of climate and variety of vegetation on their
slopes and in their valleys, rich in minerals and yielding chiefly great
quantities of silver; and the Montana, the eastward slopes of the Andes,
clad with valuable forests where the cinchona is cultivated, and the
upland basins of the Ucayale River and the Upper Amazon, very fertile,
with great coffee and cacao plantations and abundant rain; the chief
articles of export are silver, nitre, guano, sugar, and wool. Lima (200),
the capital, is 8 m. inland from its port Callao (35); has an old
cathedral, and is the chief centre of commerce; its principal merchants
are Germans. The government is republican; the ruling classes are of
Spanish descent, but half of the population are Inca Indians and a
quarter are half-castes. From the 12th to the 16th centuries the Incas
enjoyed a high state of civilisation and an extensive empire administered
on socialistic principles; they attained great skill in the industries
and arts. The Spanish conqueror Pizarro, landing in 1532, overthrew the
empire and established the colony; after three centuries of oppression
Peru threw off the Spanish yoke in 1824. The history of the republic has
been one of continual restlessness, and a war with Chile 1879-84 ended in
complete disaster; recovery is slowly progressing.

PERUGIA (17), Italian walled city on the right bank of the Tiber,
127 m. by rail N. of Rome, with a cathedral of the 15th century, some
noteworthy churches, a Gothic municipal palace, picture gallery,
university, and library; is rich in art treasures and antiquarian
remains; it has silk and woollen industries; it was anciently called
Perusia, and one of the cities of ancient Etruria, and in its day has
experienced very varied fortunes; it was the centre of the Umbrian school
of painting.

PERUGINO, his proper name VANNUCCI, Italian painter, born near
Perugia, whence his name; studied with Leonardo da Vinci at Florence,
where he chiefly resided; was one of the teachers of Raphael, painted
religious subjects, did frescoes for churches that have nearly all
perished, a "Christ giving the Keys to Peter" being the best extant;
Ruskin contrasts his work with Turner's; "in Turner's distinctive work,"
he says, "colour is scarcely acknowledged unless under influence of
sunshine ... wherever the sun is not, there is melancholy and evil," but
"in Perugino's distinctive work"--to whom he therefore gives "the
captain's place over all"--"there is s