The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-05-06

Recent oa1galar ooeaesesees ~ Peru
A travelier through ~ highlands Of Peru
fospd LATELY In tho Des44 a. eAacama, the dried
remains Ok m aasen,blage of human beings, seat
cd In ssn-civele, as when alive, and staring
into the burning waste before them. They had
not been buried here; ltfe had rot departed be-
fore they thus sat around; but hope was gone
the invader was vt hand aud no escape being
left. they had come hither to die They still sit
immovable in that dreary desert; dried like num-
mics by the effect of the hot air, they still keep
their position, sitting up as in solemn council,
while over that dread Areopagus silence broods
eyerlastngly. ntttf
The scene is described by Dr. Ried, in letter
from Valparaiso to friend ut Ratisbon to
whom he sent some Of the mummies for deposit
ton in the museum Of Geological MineralOg cal
Society of that city, where they now are. The
letter is dated from the old Peruvian fortress OF
Lasana, on the skirts Of the desert of Atacama,
and il ms follows:
| As announced to you in my last, am now
on the road to Sucrc, the capital of Bolivia
Four days after our departure from Valparaiso
we reached Cohij,, from which the road leads
for one and half or two Leagues (wenty
leagues to degree) along the coast it then
turns towards the East. The shore consists Of
coarse sand and is hespread with fragments of
rock, which the frequent earthquakes have
shaken down from the overhangng cliffs The
first mountain range, which runs parallel with
the sea, ut distance Of at most 1000 PAGES,
rises to n height of about 1000 feet. The way
up leads through a steep ravine, the bed OF an
anteduvan torrent, and in four, or four and a
half hours, we find ourselves on the plain-in
the desert of Atacama. | will not venture to
give description of this waste. You may
imagine, however, vast undulating plain,
wbereon no trace of life is to be seen, where no
insect shows ITSELF where no plant grows, where
the stiffness Of the grave is only broken bv the
moaning Of the wind, where the surface of the
earth consists of a calcareous mass--out OF
which salt and saltpetre, and similar products,
shine forth abundantly-where fine dust and
a garing refraction of the suns rays make il
painful to look around and where, finally, here
and there, as the sole proof that men had once
been here, the mummies of mules, of horses,
and Of human beings are seen dried and unde-
composed-and you may have faint picture of
Atacama 4f
After four days march came to Caama, a
colony in the midst of an immense mOrass,
where the traveller gives the mules water, and
allows them to rest One cannot possibly i'm
ngine anything more dreary than this place
The marsh contains sort of buIrush, and a
liquid which has nothing in common with water,
except that it is liquid, and which it is almost
impossible to drink--and yet we mist drink it.
although it produces diarrhea. This morass is
the source of river, which, nearer the coast, and
under appellaton Loa, forms the boundary be-
tween Bolivia and Peru IF little channels are
made in the banks of this river, their bed soon
becomes petrifed and grass, bulrushes, and
hat, ba rod ,u,;f
a crust Of lime. In two days time ! reached
Chiu-C Chin, an ancient Peruvian burying- place,
and here, in an extensive half moon, sit men,
women, and children-from 500 to 6OO-all in
the same attitude, and gazing vacantly before
them-some fallen down, and some partly COW
eren with sand. One feels himself transplanted
into another world and fancies that these CHASTITY
features ask, What seekest thou here 7"
The common opinion is, that they were buried
in this places mine is, that they buried them
selves For, firstly, there is no place in the
neighborhood where they could have dwellt;
secondly, many women are among them with
their infants at the breast; and thrifty the SINH
lar attitude of them all, and the expression of
grief which is still discernible on most Of the
countenances, prove sufficiently that they had
withdrawn hither in despair when the Spairards
conquered their land There is, moreover, on
the boundary of this desert place called Tucu-
man, which. in the language of the country,
means, GAIL is lost"
They had the belief that if they died, they
would be removed to better world towards the
West, on which account there are cooking uten-
sils found beside them full maize. The whole
scene produces deeply melancholy impression
Ion me at least it had that effect. With this
you will receive two Of these dried human
beings. more / cannot send, on account of the
may difficulties, and the great expense of trans
port. The cases for these two must be sent
hither from Valparaiso for in Cohija there is no
wood at all. The people and the mules must be
hired at the last-named place, and for each mule
must pay from eighteen to twenty dollars.
At the Northeast end Of the coast reached
Lasana, fortress of the old Peruvians. 1t is
built on a tongue Of land between the two arms
of a small river, and appears to have been the
last place of refuge whittier the Peruvians with
drew when pursued on all sides by the Spaniards
The style of building is exactly similar to that
OF our old German marauder fortresses-the
walls being of coarse masonry, and the small
rooms, holes, and hiding places endless and indie
scribable. No room is more than eight feet
square, many scarcely FIVE; doors two feet in
height; windows few in number, and those not
larger than ones fist. and with all the whole
town "a hundred or hundred and fifty families
perhaps may have dwet here built like one
house, in which the greater part had to pass
through from ten to fifteen rooms to get to their
own apartment. All this, together with the
wdncss of the site, the high river banks, which
so cover this castle Of the Incas, that from the
level of the desert il not aware of its exist
ence--forms remarkable spectacle. An old
negro, who has lived down by the river for up
wards of forty years, told me | was the first
white man who had been there in that time
The inhabitants must have died of hunger, for
we literally walked on skulls and bones Every
hole and corner is full of them. was unable
to find out the meaning of the word Lasana.
The language of this district is now unknown.
: got acquainted with Bolivian officer, who
at the command of his government, had under
taken the journey to the frontier Of Paraguay
His accounts are very delightful, and he showed
me various medicinal plants, as yet unknown, Of
which will send you some hy.and-by. An in
sect which in Bolivia is found in great quaint
ties, and which instantly raises blister on the
in like boiling water, is used by the natives as
:. r 4