will one day be instituted under more propitious circumstances. It will be seen, in a subsequent part of this work, that a considerable progress has already been made, in exploring several of the Andes mountains, and rendering them of easier access.
The benefits which will accrue to the arts and sciences, from the labours of Don Juan Tafaya, and the lucubrations of the Academical Society of Lima, are incalculable. Agriculture will be ameliorated by the lights which will be thrown on it, and will cease to be neglected, as it has, unfortunately, hitherto been. The commerce of Peru will consequently be augmented, as well by the increase of agricultural produce, as by the discovery of vegetables calculated to nourish and promote the breeds of quadrupeds[1]. This observation applies equally to the plants and shrubs for dyeing, and other purposes, the catalogue of which will be proportionately enlarged[2]. The limits of natural history, physics, and medicine, will be extended; and the latter science will more especially be enriched, not only by new specifics, but likewise by the knowledge of plants, hitherto neglected among
- ↑ In the plains of Bombon is found a herb, named by the Indians callua-callua, which being given every third day to sheep, beginning three months before the shearing time, augments very considerably the growth of their wool. The hualgua, or barba jovis, a species of psoralea, is highly efficacious as a preservative against the rot in sheep.
- ↑ Among the indigenous shrubs which grow spontaneously on the mountains of Peru, is that which bears the coffee. It was discovered in the year 1785, by the Peruvian botanists, Ruiz and Pavon, at the foot of the mountain of Carpis, in the province of Huanuco. The coffee, when prepared, was found to be of an excellent quality.
