Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1893-06-24

the arroyo railroad has crept up to the
attitudes of Casapalca on the high plateau,
and by means of engineering feats second
to none in the world.
The Peruvian is in the main and agree
able, Kind, intelligent but weak being.
He means very well. His judgment Is
sometimes acute, but his nonchalance
and lack of physical and mental energy
are as great as his wits are sharp and his
heart is really "big." This applies in the
first instance to the coast people. Those
of the Sierra are slower witted and more
persistent, but they suffer from the in
huence of an altitude that is entirely too
great to allow the proper development of
human beings. On the coast the equable-
ness Of climate through the absence of
marked differences between the seasons,
The facilities for securing alimentation
without any great physical effort, the alb
sence of meteorological disturbances to
purify the air at intervals, and, it must
DO said, the great wealth of Peru in former
years, contributes towards making man
an effeminate being and even strangers
from any country feelthe effect Of these de-
bilitating elements, after several years of
tion, the descendants of foreigners are, as
a rule, like the original Peruvians them
| selves, and it more than likely that, were
the whole population of the coast re-
placed to-day by hardy immigrants from
any other part Of the world, a century
hence would find their descendants little
different from what their predecessors
were whom their fathers and grand
fathers once replaced.
That the Indian population Of Peru is
very large in proportion to the other, ls
we'll known. But on the coast it has we'll
nigh disappeared as such through inter-
marriage with whites, negroes and lately,
Chinese. The latter are locally numerous
and have not, as in the United States,
tenaciously clung to their Asiatic home
and Asiatic customs and organization. 1t
ia rare to see Chinese, even In Lima, in
Chinese costume. Only the type distin-
guishes him from the native in most
cases, and the peculiar pronunciation.
There is, here, no organization by power
full companies as in California. But the
Chiness being OF recent introduction, he
has retained as yet the habits Of activity
in small way, and of peculiar economy
that make of him dangerous competitor
of all nations in certain branches of in
dustry and commerce. He even SUCCESS
fully rivals the Italian. OF the latter
Peru is we'll supplied with, the italian
colony at Lima alone is said to number
$4,000, or one-third of the whole popula-
tion of the city. They are successful
business men; even in the present time,
when poverty runs rampage, when once
wealthy families pawn their valuables to
obtain means of subsistence, all indus
I tries lie low, and wages are, for the lower
classes of workmen, almost nominal only.
But the italian does not work for Peru,
he gathers his means as soon as possible,
and returns to his native land to enjoy
them. There are of course exceptions to
this custom, one not calculated to increase
the popularity of the sons of Italy among
the Peruvian natives.
Politics in Peru, are incomprehensible
to the new conner. So we have had, at
Lima, and during the past two weeks,
plain commencements of disturbances
that, in any other country, would have led
to bloodshed at once. True it is, that in
all, about ten people may have been
slightly hurt on several occasions. Pre-
texts for a general convulsions are
ample, still nothing happens of moment.
Night after night cavalry patrolled the
streets of Lima, shouts and pistol shots
we're heard, yet everything passed of
quietly. Still there is great probability
of convulsion, and that soon, although
the danger is moro likely to lie outside
than inside of Peru proper. Next year
are the elections, and it would be against
every tradition of tho Republic of Peru
we're these displays of public sovereignty
to pass over without somebody getting
hurt.
If man here is somewhat of an inofPen.
sive being, and If the aerial elements sell
dom disturb the placidity of life, so
mother earth has on the contrary Of late
shown dispositions to complain of the
average quietness of the situation. In
three weeks at Lima four earthquake
shocks we're experienced, two of which
we're horizontal oscillations accompanied
by dull peals of subterraneous thunder
and rather strong in their vibrations,
and two we're of the dangerous kind