Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/373

Rh apply themselves to the culture of the lands, the property of which they hold in inheritance. They sow them with maize, wheat, and barley, in a quantity which scarcely suffices, however, for their maintenance. They cultivate in the same manner the small hills, which lie on the skirts of their district, and from which they procure their charcoal. In these two employments they are very industrious, and enjoy in consequence, a greater proportion of affluence than the other inhabitants of the province.

Although Esmoraca is annexed to the parochial district of Santa Isabel, in the department of Lipes, it is the constant residence of the priest who presides over the doctrina, or community of civilized Indians, and is comprehended in the jurisdiction of the department of Chichas. This small place, and the one adjacent to it, named Cerrillos, yield an abundance of silver, and a small proportion of gold of a very fine quality.

In Vitoche, a town belonging to the jurisdiction of the parochial district of Calcha, eighteen leagues distant from Potosi, leather, in imitation of the Spanish, is manufactured with great success, and in a quantity which suffices for the population of all the surrounding districts. This branch of industry affords the inhabitants a regular commerce, and a decent support. There are many flocks of goats, which are reared with infinite care, on account of their skins being best adapted to the above manufa6lure.

From fifty to sixty thousand marks of silver, and about a hundred thousand piastres in gold, are, on an average estimate, annually extracted from the mines, in the above dependencies. This amount the inhabitants exchange for herds, corn, wood, and other productions drawn from the side of Tarija, the territory of which is separated from the rest of the depart-