bank of every stream are peopled in proportion to the supply of water. During the rainy season in the interior, or from the melting of the snows upon the Andes, the great rivers upon the coast swell prodigiously, and can be crossed only by means of a balsa, which is a raft or frame-work, fastened upon four bull-hides sewed up, made air-tight, and filled with wind. A few of the large rivers reach the sea, but most of those of the second order are consumed in irrigating the cultivated patches, or are absorbed by the encompassing desert, where it never rains; where neither birds, beasts, nor reptiles, are ever seen, and where a blade of vegetation never grew. Sometimes a rill of water bubbles up, and is lost within the space of a hundred yards. Very often the banks of rivers are too steep and rugged to admit of the water being applied to the purposes of irrigation; consequently the surrounding country cannot be cultivated. No stranger can travel from valley to valley, as the inhabited strips are inappropriately called, without a guide; for the only indication that the desert has been trodden before, is an occasional cluster of bones, the remains of beasts of burden that have perished. The sand is frequently. raised into immense clouds by the wind, to the great annoyance of the traveller, who generally rides with his face muffled up. The obstacles to moving a body of troops from one point to another in this country can only be appreciated by military men who had to contend against them. But description, unaccompanied by a statement of facts, will fall short of conveying even a faint idea of the horrors of the desert.

'It is not a rare circumstance for the most experienced vaquianos, or guides, to lose themselves. In that case, terror instantly reduces them to a state of positive insanity. Unless they recover the path by chance, or are fortunate enough to see other travellers loom above the horizon, they inevitably perish, and their fate is no more known than that of a ship which founders unseen in the distant ocean. In the desert, a puff of wind obliterates the footsteps of a column of soldiers.

The vaquianos are nevertheless very expert, and regulate their course by circumstances unobservable to the casual traveller. When Colonel Miller galloped across the desert of Siguas, ten leagues in breadth, he expressed some doubts to the guides, as to whether they were in the proper direction. They told him that, so long as a bright star which they pointed out was in sight, there was no danger in losing themselves. They remarked, that as the wind always blew from the same quarter, they had only to keep the breeze in their left eye, to make the valley of Vitor. However, detachments, and even entire corps of the army, often have been known to lose themselves for a considerable time.'-vol. ii. pp.

51-53.

This is extremely interesting, and throughout the work there will be found abundant matter of the same kind for the curious and inquisitive reader. It contains information respecting almost all the subjects connected either with the present or past state of South America; and the romantic narratives with which the purely historical details are varied, are given with a good deal of ability. We find fault with Mr. Miller for having endeavoured to fill the large, gilt and splendid frame of such a history, with the portrait of his brother, but the work itself is one which few readers could lay aside without regret.

Of the kind of materials with which a great part of the work is filled, and which give it an interest independent of the military details, the account which is given of the City of Cuzco, is a good specimen. The same also may be said of that of the origin of the children of the sun, the history of the Peruvians being certainly one of the most remarkable of which human tradition has preserved any fragments. They were separated from those portions of the world which were supposed to enjoy the exclusive possession of learning, of laws founded on reason, and customs influenced by a known progressive refinement. But notwithstanding their separation from the people of the other quarters of the globe, they were in most of the circumstances which regard civil life, in a high state of enlightenment. Their cities were grand by their extent, and the plan of their edifices, and they were built so as to accommodate a population addicted to luxury and elegance. The history of the Incas is too much mixed up with fable, to be regarded in many points as authentic; but what light can be drawn from the singular traditions of the country, is sufficient to shew that, however the arts might advance, there was an insuperable barrier to the real advancement of civilization. An isolated nation may, by the slow but certain result of human ingenuity, working with human necessity, become skilful in science, and even well acquainted with the best and most necessary rules for the protection of society. It may, as the result of this knowledge, become gradually more wealthy, and more fixed, in a state of regular, undisturbed peace. But if it be to grow enlightened in the same proportion as other nations differently circumstanced, or to be seen tending towards the strength and glory of an emancipated humanity, it must feel the breath of the mighty spirit, which gives a oneness to all people and nations; and which, whether there be peace or war on the earth, forces men into the consciousness that, as they are all of one kind, so have they all a common bond and destiny; not to know which, is to be still within the chances of the wind or rain to make them again barbarians. There are some curious traits mentioned in the following extract :

On the invasion of Pizarro, the Peruvians were found to have attained a high degree of civilization, much higher, indeed, than any other nation was ever known to have reached prior to the knowledge of letters, or graphic records. Wonderful remains of works of utility prove their knowledge, skill, and extraordinary industry. In many of the provinces, the sides of lofty hills, or rather mountains, are cased round with terraces, or hanging gardens as they have elsewhere been called, which rise one above another to a surprising elevation. Each terrace is faced with stone, and, although of inconsiderable width, they cover the sides of such high and extensive mountains, that they alone must have produced subsistence for a very considerable population. Those terraced strips of land were by the Peruvians called Andenes, which probably induced the conquerors to give the name of Andes to the entire mighty ridge of mountains, or

cordillera, which stretches from the straits of Magellan to the isthmus of Panama. The Andenes are often to be seen in districts where rain never falls, and how they could have been irrigated is now unknown.

In the lower ground, what are now desert levels of many leagues square, were once irrigated by immense azequias, which conveyed abundance of water that gave fertility to tracts at present condemned to absolute sterility. In several places may be seen the ruins of well-built cities, which cover more ground than modern Lima, or Madrid. Some of them

are upwards of twenty miles from the nearest supply of water. 'The crumbling remains of numerous fishing villages on the border of the Pacific prove, that the ocean was made to contribute extensively to the wants or luxuries of the people. By means of the messengers before described, the tables of the Incarial family at Cuzco were regularly supplied with sea fish. The subterraneous axequias of Nasca are worthy of investigation. How far they extend is not known, but it is supposed that the Peruvians drove an adit horizontally until they met with a perennial spring. The valley of Nasca depends exclusively upon water thus obtained. The desert north and south of it is nearly a hundred miles in breadth. The underground aqueducts are lined with uncemented masonry. From the bottom of the channel to the crown of the arch is about four or five feet, and about three feet in width. Many of them are now choaked up; but a sufficient number remain to give amazing fertility to the valley of Nasca, where the vine, which is extensively cultivated, is often equal in girth to an elm of thirty years' growth.

The valley of Santa once contained a population of seven hundred thousand souls. It now numbers only seven hundred, according to the account given by the governor in 1824. Acari once reckoned sixty thousand inhabitants: it now contains but six thousand, the greatest part of which are negro slaves. Acari, or Nacari, signifies tribulation, and is the spot to which offenders and criminals were formerly exiled.

'It appears that the Peruvians never built a town, or suffered a single house to occupy a spot that was susceptible of cultivation.

The monuments which in Cuzco still survive the destructive barbarity of its conquerors, attest more strongly than the concurring accounts of early Spanish authors, the power, the splendour, and the civilization of the people, by whom they were erected. The extent and magnificence of this city arose, in a great measure, from one singular and striking trait in the policy of the incas. Every tribe or nation of which their vast empire was composed, was allowed (on being conquered) to add a new division to the city. Those who, from commercial, political, or other views, chose to reside or settle in the capital, were permitted to do so, in the full enjoyment of their own language, usages, and costume. These aggre gations were rendered the more numerous, by a regulation which obliged the youth of certain superior classes to be sent from all parts of the empire to be educated in the capital.'-vol. ii. pp. 188-190.

There is much general information also of a statistical kind in Mr. Miller's work, and the observations which he appears to have made on the present state of Peru, &c., are many and judicious. As soon as the war ended, General Miller, who had advanced to that rank, was made prefect of the department of Potosi. This

district contained three hundred thousand souls, and is rendered of considerable importance by the extent and value of its mines. The town of Potosi itself is surmounted by the Cerro, an argentiferous mountain, in which above five thousand mines have been opened, but only fifty or sixty of which are at present worked. The upper portion is supposed to be exhausted, but the lower part of the mountain has been left almost unworked, it having cost 560,243 dollars to drain off the springs, with which it abounds, from one of the principal mines. The information given on this interesting subject is very full, and forms a useful feature in the work. The following extract will give some idea of this celebrated mining district :

'The surrounding country is also metalliferous. Silver of great fineness abounds in a hill called Guayna-Potosi, close to the Cerro, but which cannot be worked, on account of numerous springs being met with at no great distance from the surface. The ore is pulverized in mills, worked with overshot wheels, turned by streamlets conducted from lakes or pools in the mountains, from one to ten miles distance from the city. The largest of these lakes are formed by dams built across the quebradas or ravines. The water is sparingly let out by a sluice in the day-time, but never at night, and sometimes not oftener than twice a week, according to the supply. Some of the larger pools are fed by tributary ones, situated in higher recesses of the same mountains. People are constantly employed as lakekeepers, to attend to the sluices, and to repair damages. In very dry seasons it has happened that a scarcity of water has caused the mills to stand still. This inconvenience might be obviated if the azequias, or channels, were paved, and the lakes properly cleaned out.

In the year 1572, a mint was constructed, at the expence of 11,000 dollars. It was intended to be only provisional; but it was not until the year 1751 that the present edifice was built. Up to the last mentioned date, the different sorts of money coined at Potosi were flat angular pieces of silver or gold, bearing the Spanish arms, and a figure denoting their value. 'The process of extracting silver from the ore was of the rudest kind until 1751, when Velasco introduced the amalgamation with quicksilver. Before this, several thousand hornillos, or small furnaces, were used for smelting. Their appearance at night on the Cerro is described by Acosta, and other early travellers, as forming an illumination as beautiful and symmetrical as it was extraordinary.

'If eight marks of silver in pina be obtained out of each caxon (which is fifty quintales, or fifty hundred-weight of ore), it is considered that the proprietor does not lose by working his mines on the Cerro of Potosi. At other places from ten to twenty marks per caxon is the proportion required to pay expences, which are augmented by the situation of mines in mountains difficult of access; distant from inhabited places, provisions, fuel, and water to turn a mill. The mines actually worked in the Cerro of Potosi do not in general yield more than ten marks per caxon. At many places on the side of the Cerro are extensive heaps, called rodados, formed by the refuse of mines, when they were so productive as to render the rodados unworthy of attention, They have however become valuable, and are found to produce from three to fifteen marks per caxon.

The richest vetas, or lodes, and the largest mines, are now under water, and it would require European science and capital to drain them. 'The Portagalete mines, in the province of Chichas, sixty-five leagues from Potosi, produce ore that gives from sixty to eighty marks the caxon. Another mine, the Gallofa, in the province of Chayanta, produces ore that yields forty marks per caxon.'-vol. ii. pp. 241-243.

We have to repeat, in closing this work of Mr. Miller, which certainly contains much interesting and useful matter, the observations we have already made, that it might as well and better have been termed a history of the South American war, than Memoirs of the author's brother. From beginning to end it possesses the character not of a personal, but a general history. It contains the date of General Miller's birth, tells us how and when he entered the army, and relates some anecdotes of his exploits, and of those of his particular acquaintances; but we really can discover nothing in all this which could either make us think a simple life of General Miller worth reading, or the life of General Miller of such importance to the cause of independence in South America, as to render it fit to be the initial letter of its history. As a work of general information on most of the topics connected with the late scene of the patriot war, the publication will, we have little doubt, be long regarded as highly valuable and entertaining, and it in a great measure deserves to be so; but it should have been sent into the world under its proper character—a work made up of the united recollections of two brothers, the one a member of the patriot army, seeing much, but disliking authorship; the other a traveller, learning things of a different nature, and loving to describe all he saw or was told of. Of the Recollections, we have already given our opinion. The work is in some parts infinitely amusing, but wants the seal of authenticity, and is far below that of Mr. Miller, in respectability or usefulness.

ART. IV.--A Spinster's Tour in France, the States of Genoa, &c., during the Year 1827. 12mo. pp. 427. London: Longman & Co. 1828.

FOR the publication of this little journal, we have the usual plea of the kind commendations of partial friends; though we have not met for some time a volume that stands less in need of apology. France has been traversed in every direction; so likewise have been the States of Genoa; often have their attractions been displayed in sober prose and animated verse; but they are not yet exhausted. Much remains in even the most frequented countries for tourists to describe. Without depending on cathedrals and picture galleries, on celebrated scenes that have been over and over depicted, and anecdotes that are to be found in every guidebook, there are a thousand traits in foreign countries which have hitherto escaped the attention of our most observant travellers.