ultra-marine merchandize, which they send to Peru from Buenos Ayres-a traffic in which a great portion of the population is employed. Wheat, barley, maize, potatoes, and different kinds of pulse, sugar, honey, brandy, &c. &c., are sent from this province with great advantage; and it possesses lands excellently adapted for rearing cotton. It may be safely affirmed that indigo is a natural product of the soil: some of it has been exported on different occasions, but it does not enter much into the speculations of the natives. In this territory there is a place Los Valles de la Puna; which valleys, besides being delicious from their situation, produce grain in plenty, and furnish materials from which the civilized Indians weave some ordinary kinds of stuffs, for interior consumption and also for export. Wool of excellent quality is likewise grown in this province. The territory of Jujuy is particularly favoured by possessing rich mines of gold, which have always been worked-but with Spanish ability! The navigation of the river Bermejo will be of the greatest importance to the inhabitants of this province in communicating with Rio de la Plata.

UPPER PERU.

Under this name is distinguished all that territory, also belonging to the provinces of Rio de

la Plata, which begins where the jurisdiction of Jujuy finishes, and ends at the river Desaguadero; on the opposite bank of which commences the territory of the republic of Peru. Within this territory, the extent of which is immense, there are four great provinces, which, in the time of the Spanish Government, occupied a distinguished rank among the provinces subject to its rule ; principally because the gold and silver were exported thence, which enabled the mother-country to maintain that character. From this cause may have proceeded the great efforts which the Spaniards have made to retain their dominion over that territory; pertinaciously resisting its incorporation with the cause of Independence: but, be that as it may, the fact is, that in the fifteen years, during which the revolution of these countries has been going on, Upper Peru, with the exception of very short intervals, has been under the power of the Spaniards; and it is but lately that hopes have been entertained that the Spaniards and their power will for ever disappear from that territory. On account of the occupation of this province by the Spaniards, it has been impossible to obtain any statistical account posterior to the revolution. All that is known for certainty is prior to that event; and, with the idea of giving preference to what has been published within the country itself, the fol

lowing accounts are extracted from a book printed in Buenos Ayres, in the year 1803, under the title of A Guide to Foreigners in the Viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, with permission of the Spanish Government.

POTOSI.

This city is situated in 19° 28, of latitude, and 313° of longitude, at the lower part of the celebrated mountain of that name, on the northern side, at the distance of 25 leagues from the city of La Plata. All the territory which is contained in the six districts of that province, called Porco, Chayanta, Chichas, Lipes, Atacama, and Tarija, comprises 960 common, and 1440 square leagues. The richness of its mines being what principally gives importance to this city, we shall furnish an idea of the famous mountain which bears the same name as the city, and enjoys throughout the world a well-merited reputation. The word Potosí, which is the primitive name of that mountain, has no certain etymology in the language of the country. By the side of it, in the northern direction, is a smaller hill, which, on account of its resemblance to the other, the Indians call the Son, and which for the same reason has been known, since 1803, by the name of Guayua Potosi, which, in the language of Quichua, means Potosi the Younger. The colour of both

is between a red and a gray, or a dark red, resembling the colour of wheat. The earth, on its surface, in general is rocky, light, and sandy, and composed principally of a substance like whetstone. Its figure is beautiful; and, viewed from the north, resembles a flag extended by the extremities. According to the different points from which this mighty mountain has been measured, its perpendicular height varies considerably. From the mouth of the ancient excavation called De Polo, the upper point of the summit stands at the height of 621 varas, and a small fraction. From the mouth of Berrio, where another excavation was made in 1803, it measures 767 varas, and a fraction; and from the plane of Santiago, 913 varas and a fraction. In the quebrada colorada, its altitude is 921 varas. So that, according to the difference of the level, which changes the plane of the base of the mountain, forming in its circumference an irregular figure, its height is computed, on an average, as one Castilian league and three quarters; although, in some parts, it exceeds two leagues of the same measure. This famous mine was discovered by an Indian named Diego Gualca, of the Chumbivilca nation, a province bordering on Cuzco: while running after some sheep of the country, up the hill, on the edge of a declivity, to prevent himself from falling, he caught hold of a valueless shrub, called

Ycho, with which at that time the whole surface of the mountain was covered. Pulling it up by the root, he discovered the silver, which was visible in the ground. He communicated the secret to two Spaniards, who worked the mines of Porco; they immediately proceeded to Potosi, and were the first who established themselves there, and gave a commencement to the population of that bank of the river. In 1545, one of these persons surveyed the vein, giving it the name of the Descubridora, which was afterwards changed to that of Centeno. A few days afterwards followed the discovery of three other veins, called Del Estaño, La Rica, and De Mendieta, which are the four principal passing along the summit of the mountain. Each of them is 12 or 14 varas in breadth. There are besides innumerable smaller veins, on which, in 1803, no fewer than 5000 shafts had been opened, which at that time were almost all out of use and stopped up, with the exception of only 97 in current work. The following statement, published also in the Guide, whence this notice is extracted, drawn up from the official books, being a curious document, is thought worthy of insertion.