Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/757

Rh STATES.] America. It is bounded on the west by Chili ; on the north by Bolivia; on the east by Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and the sea; and on the south by Patagonia. It embraces an area of 515,000 square miles if we include Tucuman, Salta, Santiago del Estero, and Jujuy, which scarcely acknowledge its authority. Nearly the whole territory of this republic consists of open plains destitute of timber, called pampas, extending from the Atlantic and the river Paraguay to the Andes. The eastern part of these plains exhibits a vigorous growth of herbage, intermixed with a forest of gigantic plants, 9 or 10 feet high, which have been called thistles, but are now known to be artichokes ; in the middle they are covered with grass ; and the western division, which extends to the foot of the Andes, consists of barren sandy plains, thinly sprinkled with shrubs and thorny trees. The openness and dryness of the country, however, render it healthy ; and by the Parana, the Paraguay, and their branches, it possesses a great extent of natural inland navigation. It has mines of gold, silver, copper, lead, and probably iron ; but its mineral riches have been greatly diminished by the separation of Potosi, Cochabamba, La Paz, and other pro vinces now forming part of Bolivia. The force of this republic lies almost entirely in the wealth, intelligence, and commercial spirit of its capital, Buenos Ayres, which contains 150,000 souls, including a large proportion of foreigners. A small number of estandas, or grazing farms, are sparingly diffused over its boundless plains, the pro prietors of which keep multitudes of horses and mules, docks of sheep, and vast herds of cattle ; the latter being chiefly valued for their skins. These people are a bold, frank, hardy, half-civilised race, who live isolated in the wilderness, and scarcely acknowledge any government. The census of 18G9 gives a total population of 1,736,922. Sec ARGENTINE HEPUBLIC; and for the two small states formed out of the north-eastern portion of its territory, see PARAGUAY and URUGUAY. Entre Rios, formerly a sepa rate state, is now a province of La Plata. Chili extends along the coast of the Pacific from 24 to 56 of south latitude: its length is 2270 miles; its breadth varies from 40 to 200; and its surface, exclusive of Arau- cania, which has an area of 88,000 sq. miles, is estimated at 130,977 English square miles. The country consists properly of the western slope or declivity of the Andes, for the branches of the mountains running out in tortuous directions from the main trunk reach to the sea-shore. It enjoys an excellent and healthful climate ; severe cold is un known in the inhabited parts, and the heat is seldom exces sive. The useful soil bears a small proportion to the entire surface of the country, consisting merely of the bottom of the valleys. It has rich mines of gold, silver, and copper in the northern provinces ; but very few of them can be worked in consequence of the absolute sterility of the adjacent country. Its two northern provinces, occupying 450 miles of the coast, are nearly perfect deserts. The soil continues extremely dry, and yields nothing without irrigation, till we reach the latitude of 35 ; and it is believed that not one- fiftieth part of the country is fit for cultivation. But south of the river Maule the land is covered with fine timber, and bears crops of wheat and other grain without the aid of any other moisture than what is supplied by the atmosphere. This is in truth the fine and fruitful part of Chili ; and the project was once entertained of selecting its chief town, Con ception, for the seat of the government. Chili has no manu factures, and is unfavourably situated for commerce. It has no navigable rivers, while its mountainous surface is an obstacle to the formation of roads; but nevertheless it has now upwards of 500 miles of railway opened. A represen tative constitution was established in Chili in 1833. An enumeration dated 18G9 makes the population, exclusive of Araucania (with 70,000 aborigines), 1,938,861. See CHILI. I 713 Peru may be regarded as a continuation of Chili, consist-. Peru, ing of the western declivities of the Andes, from the 4th to the 22d degree of south latitude, with the addition of a considerable tract on the east side of the mountains, be tween the 4th and 15th parallels. There are few countries in the world which have a more singular physical charac ter than the western part of Peru. It is a belt or zone of sands, 1240 miles in length and from 70 to 600 in breadth, with inequalities of surface which might be called mountains if they were not seen in connection with the stupendous background of the Andes. This long line of desert is intersected by rivers and streams, which are seldom less than 20 or more than 80 miles apart, and on the sides of which narrow strips of productive soil are created by means of irrigation. These isolated valleys form the whole habitable country. Some of the large rivers reach the sea ; the smaller are either consumed in irrigating the patches of cultivated land or absorbed by the encom passing desert, where it never rains, where neither beast nor bird lives, and a blade of vegetation never grew. No stranger can travel from one of these valleys to another without a guide, for the desert is trackless ; and the only indications of a route are an occasional cluster of bones, the remains of beasts of burden that have perished. Even experienced guides, who regulate their course by the stars, the sun, or the direction of the wind, sometimes lose their path, and they almost inevitably perish. Of a party of 300 soldiers thrown ashore by a shipwreck in 1823 on one of these desert spaces, nearly a hundred expired before they reached the nearest valley. Ignorance and wonder have been busy with this singular region : legends are current, which tell that descendants of the ancient Peruvians have lived in some of these mysterious valleys, hid from the know ledge of their merciless invaders, since the days of the Incas. We have no reason to believe that more than one acre in a hundred of maritime Peru will ever be available for the sustenance of mankind. The country has two ad vantages its mines of the precious metals, and a temperate and delightful climate, in consequence of the absence of rain and the fogs which intercept the solar heat. It can never be rich in the proper sense of the term, or make much pro gress in the improvements which depend upon a dense popu lation. Like Chili, it has no navigable rivers and nature has deprived it of the means of forming good roads. There are indeed few countries in the world whose natural advan tages have been so much overrated as Peru ; and it requires little sagacity to discover that its future career cannot cor respond with its past celebrity. The districts east of the Andes, which have a hot climate accompanied with a rich soil, will ultimately be the most valuable part of the country; but their secluded situation and want of communication with other countries must keep them long in a backward state. The government is republican. Peru comprehends a surface of 502,760 square miles ; the capital, Lima, contained in 1862 a population of 121,370. In that year a rough calculation was made which gave 3,199,000 as the entire population of the republic. It was also estimated that the proportions of races were : 1 ndians 5 7 per COM t. Mixed races 23, , Spaniards, Negroes, Chinese, &c 20 ,, Bolivia, or Upper Peru, lies eastward of Lower Peru, and Bolivia is bounded on the south by the Argentine Republic, and on the north and east by Brazil. It is of an irregular form, and comprehends a space of 473,300 square miles. The climate is pleasant and healthful, the soil is generally dry, and in the eastern parts, as well as the elevated table-land, its aridity produces barrenness. Nature, however, as a compensation for its other disadvantages, has bestowed upon it some of the richest mines in the world. The country was erected I. 90