The History Of The Conquest Of Peru (2nd ver) | Page 8

have been called "mountains of gold." Arranged
sometimes in a single line, though more frequently in two or three lines
running parallel or obliquely to each other, they seem to the voyager on
the ocean but one continuous chain; while the huge volcanoes, which to
the inhabitants of the table-land look like solitary and independent
masses, appear to him only like so many peaks of the same vast and
magnificent range. So immense is the scale on which Nature works in
these regions, that it is only when viewed from a great distance, that the
spectator can, in any degree, comprehend the relation of the several
parts to the stupendous whole. Few of the works of Nature, indeed, are
calculated to produce impressions of higher sublimity than the aspect of
this coast, as it is gradually unfolded to the eye of the mariner sailing
on the distant waters of the Pacific; where mountain is seen to rise
above mountain, and Chimborazo, with its glorious canopy of snow,
glittering far above the clouds, crowns the whole as with a celestial

diadem. *4
[Footnote 2: According to Malte-Brun, it is under the equator that we
meet with the loftiest summits of this chain. (Universal Geography,
Eng. trans., book 86.) But more recent measurements have shown this
to be between fifteen and seventeen degrees south, where the Nevado
de Sorata rises to the enormous height of 25,250 feet, and the Illimani
to 24,300.]
[Footnote 3: At least, the word anta, which has been thought to furnish
the etymology of Andes, in the Peruvian tongue, signified "copper."
Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 15.]
[Footnote 4: Humboldt, Vues des Cordilleres et Monumens des Peuples
Indigenes de l'Amerique, (Paris, 1810,) p. 106. - Malte-Brun, book 88.
The few brief sketches which M. de Humboldt has given of the scenery
of the Cordilleras, showing the hand of a great painter, as well as of a
philosopher, make us regret the more, that he has not given the results
of his observations in this interesting region as minutely as he has done
in respect to Mexico.]
The face of the country would appear to be peculiarly unfavorable to
the purposes both of agriculture and of internal communication. The
sandy strip along the coast, where rain rarely falls, is fed only by a few
scanty streams, that furnish a remarkable contrast to the vast volumes
of water which roll down the eastern sides of the Cordilleras into the
Atlantic. The precipitous steeps of the sierra, with its splintered sides of
porphyry and granite, and its higher regions wrapped in snows that
never melt under the fierce sun of the equator, unless it be from the
desolating action of its own volcanic fires, might seem equally
unpropitious to the labors of the husbandman. And all communication
between the parts of the long-extended territory might be thought to be
precluded by the savage character of the region, broken up by
precipices, furious torrents, and impassable quebradas, - those hideous
rents in the mountain chain, whose depths the eye of the terrified
traveler, as he winds along his aerial pathway, vainly endeavours to
fathom. *5 Yet the industry, we might almost say, the genius, of the

Indian was sufficient to overcome all these impediments of Nature.
[Footnote 5: "These crevices are so deep," says M. de Humboldt, with
his usual vivacity of illustration, "that if Vesuvius or the Puy de Dome
were seated in the bottom of them, they would not rise above the level
of the ridges of the neighbouring sierra" Vues des Cordilleres, p. 9.]
By a judicious system of canals and subterraneous aqueducts, the waste
places on the coast were refreshed by copious streams, that clothed
them in fertility and beauty. Terraces were raised upon the steep sides
of the Cordillera; and, as the different elevations had the effect of
difference of latitude, they exhibited in regular gradation every variety
of vegetable form, from the stimulated growth of the tropics, to the
temperate products of a northern clime; while flocks of llamas - the
Peruvian sheep - wandered with their shepherds over the broad,
snow-covered wastes on the crests of the sierra, which rose beyond the
limits of cultivation. An industrious population settled along the lofty
regions of the plateaus, and towns and hamlets, clustering amidst
orchards and wide-spreading gardens, seemed suspended in the air far
above the ordinary elevation of the clouds. *6 Intercourse was
maintained between these numerous settlements by means of the great
roads which traversed the mountain passes, and opened an easy
communication between the capital and the remotest extremities of the
empire.
[Footnote 6: The plains of Quito are at the height of between nine and
ten thousand feet above the sea. (See Condamine, Journal d'un Voyage
a l'Equateur, (Paris, 1751,) p. 48.)