Transcriber's Note:
Obvious typographic errors have been corrected.
View of Callao, and distant view of Lima.
Engraved for Stevenson's Narrative of South America.
A
HISTORICAL
AND
DESCRIPTIVE NARRATIVE
OF
TWENTY YEARS' RESIDENCE
IN
SOUTH AMERICA,
IN THREE VOLUMES;
CONTAINING TRAVELS IN ARAUCO, CHILE, PERU, AND COLOMBIA;
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF
THE REVOLUTION, ITS RISE, PROGRESS, AND RESULTS.
BY W. B. STEVENSON,
FORMERLY PRIVATE SECRETARY TO THE PRESIDENT AND CAPTAIN GENERAL OF QUITO,
COLONEL, AND GOVERNOR OF ESMERALDAS, CAPTAIN DE FRAGATA, AND LATE
SECRETARY TO THE VICE ADMIRAL OF CHILE,—HIS EXCELLENCY
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD COCHRANE, &c.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
HURST, ROBINSON, AND CO.
CONSTABLE & Co. AND OLIVER & BOYD, EDINBURGH.
MDCCCXXV.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE
RIGHT HON. THOMAS LORD COCHRANE,
Marquis of Maranham,
AS A TESTIMONY OF RESPECT FOR THE IMPORTANT SERVICES
RENDERED TO
SOUTH AMERICAN EMANCIPATION,
AND TO THE COMMERCIAL INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN,
THIS WORK
IS (BY PERMISSION) HUMBLY DEDICATED.
PREFACE.
The interest which the late successful revolution in Spanish America hasawakened in Europe renders any genuine account of the new world sohighly acceptable to the British nation, that it has become an almostimperative duty in those who may possess original matter to communicateit to the public; for it may be said, without the least exaggeration,that although the countries thus emancipated were discovered in thesixteenth century, they have remained almost unknown till the beginningof the nineteenth.
Fully convinced of these facts, and being urged by my friends, when Iwas on the eve of again crossing the Atlantic, to publish my collectionof notes and memoranda—the gleanings of a twenty years' residence—inorder to contribute my quota to the small stock of authentic matteralready laid before an anxious public, I have been induced to postponemy voyage, and to embody my observations in the manner in which they nowappear.
It is undoubtedly of great importance to become acquainted with thefeatures of a country which has undergone any remarkable change in itspolitical, religious, or literary career, before that change took place;and it is equally important to know the cause of and the means by whichthe change was effected. I have therefore given a succinct history ofthe state of the colonies before their fortunate struggle began togerminate, by describing their political and ecclesiasticalinstitutions; the character