Glimpses of South America : or, The land of the pampas

Front matter

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GLIMPSES OF SOUTH AMERICA.

GIGANTIC RUINS AT TITICACA.

Chapter I. The Discovery Of America

_ OST o^irls and bo vs have heard of Christopher Columbus, the great navigator, who in the year 1492 set sail with three small vessels, and not more than 120 men, on his great voyage of discovery.

We know very little indeed about his early life. His father, it appears, was a wool-comber, who lived at Genoa, in Italy; so that of this much we are sure, Christopher was not the son of a rich man, but lived in a humble home with his father and mother, and perhaps many times had to sit down, with his brothers and sisters, to a barely furnished dinner-table.

GLIMPSES OF SOUTH AMERICA.

Still, in spite of their poverty, the good people contrived to send their son to a school, where the little fellow made the best use of his time, and the lessons he enjoyed more than any others were those in astronomy and geography. Under blue Italian skies, among lovely scented flowers, some boys might have wished for nothing better than to linger on there all their lives.

Not so with our hero. The little knowledge he had gained made him thirst for more. He studied his maps, and thought how much he should like to see for himself some of the different countries traced on them, and before very long he had persuaded his father to let him go to sea.

After one of his voyages down the Mediterranean, when his boyhood had passed, he settled for a short time at Lisbon, and there married an Italian girl, who, like himself, for some reason or other had left her native land. After this, by way of earning money, Columbus spent his time in making maps and charts, and while thus occupied the longing he had always had to visit unknown lands became stronger than ever.

Mustering up all his courage, he went to the King of Portugal and asked for his help in the shape of money and ships to go out on a voyage of discovery ; but instead of the king helping him, as he might well have done, he not only refused to do so, but also privately sent out a vessel to examine the route that Columbus had said Re meant to take.

In a very short time this same vessel returned, the sailors declaring they were only too thankful to be at home again after being exposed to so much danger, and that the Italian stranger was mad to imagine that he could go further than other ships had gone before.

fHE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. H

Disappointed and grieved, poor Columbus turned his steps to his native land, taking with him his little son

Diego, whose mother had died. But even there he met with no encouragement ; his friends were all busy with their own affairs. It seemed as if they listened with only one ear to what Columbus had to say about his search for unknown regions, and much less were they inclined to give him any of their money to help him in his wild scheme.

Still keeping a brave heart — for Columbus was not going to be turned from his purpose just because he could not get what he wanted all at once — he left Italy, and found his way to Spain.

One day, while wandering about there with his motherless boy, 'both of them weary and hungry, he stopped at a convent to beg a mouthful of bread. A kind-hearted priest happening to pass at the time, looked at the thin white face of the hungry boy, and then at the intelligent but sad face of the father. Kindly the good man fed the wanderers, and as they ate the food he gave them, Columbus told him what he wished to do.

“ This is a clever man,” thought the priest, “ and I will do all I can to help him; ” and so he did, for he went straight to the king and queen, and told them what he himself had heard, and asked them to help the foreign sailor. The king promised to do so ; but for all that, Columbus had to wait seven more years before he really set out. It was on the 3rd of August, 1492, that he started from the South of Spain, and there on the wide ocean the brave man forgot all the troubles he had gone through in his delight at having at last gained the object of his desire. What difficulties he had to contend with, however, we shall never know. For one thing, his men grumbled and found fault with him for exposing them to so much danger; indeed, if he had listened to their entreaties, he would never have reached America, but would have turned back about midway.

THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.

Instead of that, Columbus went on as steadily as he could, considering* he had to contend with the tradewinds — which, as sailors now know well, are sometimes

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.

so unmerciful to vessels in the broad Atlantic — until at last he sighted land.

The piece of land he saw was one of those islands lying* between North and South America, one of* the Bahama islands; and as soon as he stepped on the shore he called the island San Salvador. It was not long* before he discovered Cuba and Hayti, and others of the West Indies, and then he embarked again for Spain, to convey the joyful tidings to the

C0LUAIBU3 RECEIVED BY FERDINAND AND ISABELLA

THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.

king*. On arriving, he was received with every mark of respect by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, and treated like a hero ; besides which, after six months, he was sent out again with seventeen ships instead of only three, and with 1,500 men, this time discovering more of the islands.

Columbus made four voyages in all. It was during the third of these that he landed on the shore of South America at a place called Paria.

By some means or other after this third voyage evil reports had' reached the ears of the king, who gave orders that the brave sailor should be brought home in chains.

Cruel as it appears to us now, that such an indignity should be shown to so brave and true a man as Columbus, we should be still more sorry if he had deserved the treatment ; but fortunately he was innocent, for his brave heroic spirit helped him not only to face the winds and storms of the ocean, but also to resist evil.

He tried in vain to convince Ferdinand of his innocence, but being unable to do so, he comforted himself by thinking that after all some of his friends still clung to him; and, instead of giving way to despair, he set out with a clear conscience on a fourth expedition. This time he meant to find what he felt sure existed, namely, a passage connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, but as we all know there is no such passage, it is not very astonishing that he did not succeed in discovering it.

By this time he was getting old, and instead of the sailors who went with him doing all they could to help him, they spent their time in searching for gold to enrich themselves; so poor Columbus turned his face

GLIMPSES OF SOUTH AMERICA.

back again. When he reached Spain, Queen Isabella was dead, and King Ferdinand, who ought to have paid great honour to the old navigator, treated him very coldly; indeed, he took so little notice of him, that at last the brave man, who had spent most of his life in facing the many hardships of a sailor for the benefit of future generations, was left to die in poverty.

Columbus might, if he had wished to do so, have gathered together for himself gold and riches, but he did not care for a life of ease. Fine clothes, fine houses, luxury and idleness, had no attraction for him. He had resolved to discover this new far-off land, which was so much talked about just at that time, and he could not rest until he had done so.

Like Moses of old, he had little more than a peep into the land of promise, for he only went as far as the borders of the mighty continent; other people who lived after him have availed themselves of its wealth and have admired its beauty, and even the name by which it is known was given to it in honour of one who made its acquaintance later than Columbus. It seems that when people on all sides were talking about Columbus and his wonderful travels, many young men and boys felt their blood tingle with a longing to set out on a similar errand, and among the rest was a young Italian called Amerigo Vespucci.

He therefore set off too, and as he was very clever and brave, he also discovered many places that before had been unknown, and somehow or other the new world was named after him. Considering that Columbus was first in the field, it seems rather hard that a later discoverer's name should be immortalised, and that the name of the real discoverer should be completely

TIIE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA ignored. Still, as with all of us living now the name of Christopher Columbus will always be linked in our memory with the discovery of America, it is not very

COLUMBUS PLACED UNDER ARREST.

likely that, as the years pass on (even when America is no longer regarded as'a new world), he will evei be foigotten .

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IS

GLIMPSES OF SOUTH AMERICA.

In the city of Lima, which is the capital of Peru, a beautiful monument of Columbus now stands. It is a marble group, in which America is represented as a crouching Indian girl, receiving a cross, the type of Christianity, from the great discoverer, who is dressed in a loose robe. While with one hand she takes the cross, with the other she drops an arrow, the symbol of savage life, at her feet.

There is no doubt that other Europeans had visited America even before the time of Columbus, but its history — as far as our connection with it is concerned — may safely date from the day that he set foot in the land.

After his death, adventurers from all parts, hearing of the wealth that lay waiting only to be picked up in this new country, sailed away with the idea of securing as large a share of it as possible before it was too late.

Some of these wanderers were very successful, and went home again laden with gold, the sight of which filled many a heart with envy. Others settled down and made homes for themselves in the strange land, among the red men, who were the real inhabitants, and thus a great change has come over America within the last two or three hundred years.

It is not now the abode of red men only, but of people from all parts of the earth, and therefore it is that we have gained a great deal of information respecting it.

What we now propose to do is to take a peep, or rather as <rood a look as we can, at the south of the country to which Columbus introduced us more than three hundred years ago. The whole of the continent of America is so large that on the map our British

TIIE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.

islands looks quite small and unimportant. If, therefore, we succeed in gaining a little information about the southern half of this huge continent, we need not altogether be dissatisfied. We shall no doubt be anxious then to learn something about the northern portion.

Even the children living now know more about it than Columbus did, because so many people have, since his time, been to see it ; and although it has not proved to be a perfect paradise, as some people fancied it would, it is very full of interest.

TIIE THREE SHIPS OF COLUMBUS.

America should \AV" have been called the New World is rather strange, because the travellers who have visited it tell us that it must be really a very old world ; for this reason, that a great many old temples and figures, and buildings of all kinds, have been dug up from beneath the earth's surface.

As it is utterly impossible that such things should have come there by chance, they prove to us that people must have existed hundreds — and perhaps thousands — of years ago, who were clever enough to make them. It is not likely we shall ever know who these people were, for they have left no written record of themselves, excepting the characters or hieroglyphics, as they are called, which are cut out on some of the

Chapter II. Peru

PERU.

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huge stone blocks that have been dug up ; and these characters, which no doubt mean a very great deal, are not intelligible to us.

All that we can do, therefore, is to look at the country as it is now, and to trace its history in the past as far back as ever we can. Perhaps the most simple way of doing this will be to examine its different divisions or countries one after another. There will, no doubt, be a little that is interesting to remember about each one — what the inhabitants are like, what are their occupations, how they are governed, what trees and flowers grow, what animals roam about, and many other things.

On looking at our map we find that South America is almost a triangle, and that it is divided into the following states. First of all there is the empire of Brazil, which constitutes nearly half the continent, then there are the republics of Colombia (or New Granada), Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chili, the Argentine Republic, Paraguay and Uruguay; besides which is the province of Guyana, belonging to England, Holland, and France, and in addition still is Patagonia, a country that is so thoroughly an independent Indian territory that it is not usually included among the other states.

Of all the divisions we have mentioned, there is perhaps not one more interesting than Peru; so, although it is not nearly equal in size to Brazil, we will do it the honour of paying to it the first of our imaginary visits.

Unfortunately, however, the more we learn about it the more we are convinced that a great deal of its history we can never know, because the first inhabitants have been dead for many ages, and as we said before,

A STORM IN THE ANDES.

PERU.

have not written any books or left any definite record to tell us who they were, where they came from, and many other particulars, respecting* which we should like to be enlightened.

Down the w?est coast of it are the lofty Andes, which arc capped with snow at the summit; while below in some parts are lovely shrubs and flowers, and birds warbling their sweet notes among the thick waving branches.

Grand as these mountains are, travellers who venture to ascend their steep and rocky sides run great risk of being thrown down a deep precipice, or dashed into some deep dark chasm.

The Indian natives get accustomed to the narrow winding zigzag paths, and are almost as surefooted as the mules under their charge ; but to every one else the task is much more difficult, especially if, in the midst of the ascent, a hailstorm should overtake the traveller. We who have never crossed the Andes, can form no idea of the violence of one of these storms.

The hailstones are something tremendous, coming down with such force as to stun not only the riders but also the patient mules; all that the poor traveller can do is to turn his back to the wind, and shield himself from danger by hiding his neck and ears in the folds of his cloak.

The Cordilleras are the high mountains that divide Peru and Chili from the rest of South America, and very dangerous it is for travellers to attempt to cross them, on account of the tremendous snowstorms, which come on quite suddenly.

On account of these snowstorms, houses of refuge are built among the mountains, with thick brick walls, and

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A TRAVELLER'S SHELTER IN TIIE ANDES.

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with nothing* but loopholes for the windows ; and even then, within these snug houses, travellers have frequently been frozen to death.

Once ten poor travellers were overtaken in one of these dreadful storms, ahd finding it useless to attempt proceeding further on their journey, they managed to squeeze themselves into one of the houses of refuge, which they saw standing empty.

How long they had been obliged to remain there no one ever knew, for when they were found, six of them were quite dead, and the other four were nearly so ; they could not speak. Having no food, they had killed their mules and eaten them, and also their one faithful dog; the door they had pulled from its hinges, and broken into pieces to burn for firewood. All this told a sad silent tale of what the poor creatures had had to endure.

In the minds of most of us, the names of Peru and Pizarro are linked together, because it was a young Spaniard of the name of Pizarro who, soon after the death of Columbus, conquered the country and took possession of it.

Different adventurers kept returning from the newly discovered world, with wonderful tales of the quantities of gold and silver that were to be found. So Pizarro, who, as a little boy, had spent a great deal of his time doing nothing better than minding pigs, determined to change his occupation, and see for himself this fairy land, which was being so much talked about. On landing on the foreign shore, he managed to gain favour with the natives, who gave him presents of gold and silver ornaments, and silk and woollen cloths of their own manufacture, and some animals called alpacas.

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GLIMPSES OF SOUTH AMERICA.

These he took back to the Spanish king, as proof of what he had seen ; and as a reward, the king made him governor of Peru, and secured to him the right of the discovery of the place.

Pizarro joyfully returned to the land of gold. The people he found living there were called Incas, who were very clever, and, as Pizarro soon found out, were much wiser in many ways than he was himself ; but how long they had been there, they could not tell him. This much he ascertained, however — that they were by no means the first inhabitants of the place ; long before their time, a race of people had dwelt on the ground where they then stood, who must have been quite as advanced in civilisation, or even more so, than they were themselves. This fact has been confirmed in later years by other visitors to Peru, wrho have dug out ruins of buildings and idols, that had no doubt been swallowed up at some time by earthquakes.

Not very long ago, a number of idols were dug up, some of which were thirty feet long. What they proved, of course as they were taken out of the darkness, was, that at some period in that region, idolatry had prevailed. Besides which, they are specimens of what the people could do in the way of architecture. Indeed, all the old remains that were found told some tale or other. Buried prisons, for instance, told us that crimes had been punished by confinement, and cooking utensils explained to us how the food of the people used to be prepared.

According to tradition, we are told that Manco, the first Inca, and his wife Mama Oello, first made their appearance on the borders of the lake Titicaca. They said the sun was their father, and that he had sent them down to their fellow creatures to be their teachers.

PEfttJ.

Manco bad in his hand a golden wand, which he said would at some particular spot disappear, when he struck the ground with it.

One day, as he and his wife were travelling, they came to the plain of Cuzco, when all at once Manco struck his golden wand. It immediately disappeared, so at Cuzco he built his capital, and afterwards was built

SCENE IN A PERUVIAN FOREST.

there the magnificent Temple of the Sun, called Coricancha, or Place of Gold.

From all we have heard, this temple must have been most gorgeous ; almost as splendid as the sun himself, of which it was the representation.

On the western wall was fixed an immense human face, made of gold, from which golden rays darted in

GLIMPSES OP SOUTH AMERICA.

every direction. In other parts of the building were golden images, plates, and figures of all descriptions. So that when the real sun himself shed his glorious beams into the edifice, the place was one mass of light and splendour.

INTERIOR OF THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN.

Underneath the great face of gold were a number of golden chairs in which were seated the embalmed bodies of the old Inca rulers.

In the court outside, smaller temples were built, one to the Moon, one to Venus, one to the Pleiades, one to

ERU the Thunder and Lightning, and one to the Rainbow, all of which were richly decorated with gold and silver. At the present time a church and a convent stand on the place once occupied by the Temple of the Sun.

According to the legend, Maneo, after losing his

ENTRANCE TO PIZARRO’S HOUSE AT CUZCO.

golden wand, became ruler and priest in the land * he made laws, taught the men how to dig, sow, and build, while at the same time Mama his wife taught the women to weave and spin. After thus spending their lives for forty years, they returned to the Sun their father, and were seen no more.

GLIMPSES OF SOUTH AMERICA.

A great many Incas ruled after Manco, and very good industrious lives the people seem to have led. At that time Cuzco was their chief city. From it roads led to all other parts of the kingdom, and as there were no

INDIAN OF CUZCO.

steam engines then, or telegraph wires, or telephones, as there are in our days, these clever people had to invent other means of carrying on communication with each other.

INDIANS OF CUZCO.

GLIMPSES OF SOUTH AMERICA.

Why the Spaniards should wish to go and disturb a set of people who knew so well how to manage their own affairs is certainly a matter of surprise.

Along all the most important roads, especially that

AN INCA EMPEROR.

leading from Cuzco, small buildings were erected about five miles apart from each other. Their use may be thus explained : — When the government officers had messages to send to different towns, runners were employed for the purpose. The first runner would scamper off for five miles with the message to the first station, where he delivered it up to a second runner, who carried it to the next station, and so on until the whole distance was accomplished ; and even though the course was often hilly and rugged, it was astonishing how swiftly these men covered the ground.

PERU.

As a proof of this it is said that fresh fish that had been caught one day on the coast used to be eaten the next day three hundred miles away, and that it was conveyed all this distance by the runners.

The Inca, who was both king and priest in one, was held in great reverence by his subjects, and no wonder, when both he and they quite believed that, like Manco of old, lie had originally proceeded from their god the Sun. Even his most familiar courtiers were only allowed to enter his presence barefoot, and even then they always carried with them some burden as a token of the homage they wished to offer to their ruler.

The share of land owned by the Inca was carefully cultivated by his people. They would as soon have thought of neglecting to- till their own laud as of leaving his portion uncared for. Just the same it was with their manufactures. They first made articles for themselves, then they worked for the Inca; in fact, they seem to have been just like one great family. Instead of each person striving to make only himself rich and happy and comfortable, the aim of every individual was to work for the benefit of others.

Some great man has said that the difference that exists between “ seeing that no one cheats you,” “ and seeing that you cheat no one,” is as great as the difference between riding in a market cart and riding in a chariot. If so, these old Incas"were as happy as if they rode in chariots all day long, for they were all busy in looking after and helping each other; and somehow, while doing this, their own affairs never suffered from neglect.

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Chapter III. More About Peru

J&TK E N Pizarro ' D landed at Peru with his few followers, this happy state of things had been going on for many years, although just at that very time a quarrel had arisen between two brothers as to which of them had the greatest claim to succeed to the throne in the place of the late Inca their father.

Pizarro, who was a daring bold man, killed Atahualpa, one of the brothers, who was just about to lay claim to the throne after having subdued his rival brother, and then marched with his men into Cuzco, at that time the capital of Peru.

What had first induced Pizarro to cross the seas at all was the prospect of the vast wealth he expected to secure for himself, so as soon as he found he was master

MORE ABOUT PERU.

o.j of Cuzco, be looked about for wlmt lie could pick up in the way of gold aud silver.

It is said that one soldier alone took for his share the golden image of the Sun from the temple, and all

PIZARRO.

the others took as much as they could carry. Pizarro, at last satisfied with his treasures, marched west to the banks of the River Rimac, and there built for himself what he called “ The City of the Kings. ” The

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CROSSING A BltlDGE IN TEETJ.

MORE ABOUT PERU.

name was soon afterwards changed to Lima, and it is now the capital of Peru.

Among the soldiers who assisted Pizarro in his conquest of this province was one called Almagro, who was as eager for wealth as Pizarro himself, and who certainly succeeded in gaining a considerable amount of treasure.

Once, when Pizarro had gone to Spain to take a quantity of valuable presents to his friends, Almagro attempted to make himself master of Lima.

Pizarro was so enraged that, on his return he ordered him to be put to death, but in revenge the son of Almagro assassinated Pizarro, and thus ended the life of the conqueror of Peru.

From this period the old Incas began to sink into obscurity, Peru gradually became the property of their conquerors the Spaniards, and for many years the country was the scene of war and bloodshed.

The original natives rebelled against these Spanish invaders, as well they might ; but they resisted in vain, for the Spaniards were not only skilful -warriors but were well supplied with powerful weapons, so that in course of time the whole of Peru belonged to Spain.

Cruel hard masters these Spaniards proved themselves to be, until at last, at a great battle that was fought in 1824, at Ayacucho, the Peruvians conquered their enemies, and now they are free from the Spanish yoke.

How famous Peru has always been for her gold and silver mines, even children have long known, who in one of their hymns have sung : —

“ I would not change my native land For rich Peru, with all her gold;

A nobler prize lies in my hand

Than East or Western Indies hold.”

GLIMPSES OF SOUTH AMERICA.

That she should become less rich in gold and silver we none of us desire, but that all who dwell on her soil should not prefer wealth that can be handled and spent to higher and more enduring treasures, is the earnest wish of every one of us.

One town in Peru, called Pachacamac, was in ancient times a sacred city : a beautiful temple stood there, which pilgrims from distant parts used to visit, and in doing so

ANCIENT PERUVIAN IDOLS.

were allowed to pass unmolested by the different tribes on the way.

The place was a very busy scene in those days; there were a great many inhabitants ; and a number of little inns, called tambos, were erected for the accommodation of the pilgrims.

Pachacamac,one modern traveller tells us, is a wonderful place. By the side of the temple, and situated on a hill, is a well built house, with fine enclosures or walls, which the Indians say is the house of the Sun. There

MORE ABOUT PERU.

are also in the town many other large houses, with terraces like those in Spain.

It must he a very old place, for there are numerous fallen edifices. It has been surrounded by a wall, although now most of it has fallen. It has large gates for entering, and also streets. Its principal chief is called Taurichumbi, and there are many other chiefs, though instead of being now the grand city it was formerly, it is, we are told, one mass of ruins, for it was one of the places taken and destroyed by the Spaniards at the time of their invasion.