Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/123

Rh price rose to thirty piastres the bushel. From this public calamity originated the present traffic in corn; the ships engaged in the transport of which, were before laden with commodities of a very different nature.

It would appear that the commerce of corn, for the consumption of the Peruvian capital, absorbs nearly the one half of the gross amount of the imports. In 1789, two hundred and eighteen thousand bushels of wheat, of the value of two hundred and seventy-five thousand piastres, were imported from Chile. Its other productions, which are less plentiful, and not of so prime a necessity, would constantly have rendered that kingdom dependent on Peru. Those forwarded to the ports of Iquique, Arica, Ilo, and Aranta, commonly named the intermediate ports, to supply the provinces of Arequipa, and those, contiguous to them, belonging to the jurisdiction of Buenos-Ayres, do not exceed the amount of forty-six thousand six hundred and seventy-five piastres. From this estimation is to be deducted the value of the herb of Paraguay, which is not a production of Chile, but is brought thither by two vessels that sail annually from the port of Pacasmayo, chiefly laden with tobacco on the account of his Catholic Majesty.

Although the island of Chiloe is annexed to the viceroyalty of Lima, its proximity to the kingdom of Chile has occasioned it to be considered, but improperly, as constituting, in a commercial point of view, a part of that government. The amount of its commerce cannot be precisely ascertained, its productions being blended with others that are foreign to its soil. The exports from this island amounted, in 1789, to thirty thousand piastres; and the imports to fifty-one thousand two