Pacchapata was laid out. During the war of independence the
Spaniards destroyed Fort Colla, and the inhabitants of Vitoc were left
without any means of defence against their savage enemies. The last
attempt to reduce the Chunchos to subjection and order was made by a
military expedition under the command of General Don Francisco de Paula
de Otero, but owing to ill-arranged plans it totally failed. No more
than twenty-five years have elapsed since the valley of Vitoc, with its
rich plantations, was in the most flourishing prosperity. Now only faint
traces of its past cultivation are discernible.

The history of the Montana of Vitoc is the history of all the Montanas
of Peru. In all, we perceive the alternate rise and decline of
cultivation and civilization, caused by the efforts of the missionaries,
and the incursions of the wild Indians. Throughout all these districts
the present condition exhibits a marked inferiority to the past, a
circumstance which may be accounted for by the long-continued civil war,
during the contest for independence. Nevertheless, the internal
tranquillity of the country, and the increasing population, suggest
favorable prognostics for the future.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 98: See page 189.]

[Footnote 99: I allude here to individuals (and such cases are by no
means singular) who have attained the great age of 130. Supposing these
Indians to have begun to masticate coca at ten years old, and calculate
their daily consumption as a minimum at one ounce, the result is the
consumption of twenty-seven hundred weight, in 120 years.]

[Footnote 100: The worthy Padre forgets the high price that would be
charged for coca in Europe. In Tarma and Huenuco the aroba (twenty-five
pounds) costs at an average six Spanish dollars; add to this the
carriage to Lima, the freight to Europe, custom-house duties, &c., and
this price would be nearly doubled.]

[Footnote 101: The whole valley of Vitoc can furnish only two muskets,
and these are in as useless a state as possible. As for powder, there
is a constant want of it. During my residence in Vitoc I usually gave
the Alcalde some of my powder when he went out with his Cholos, or
when there was a firing on festival days. The want of a suitable
number of muskets, and sufficient powder in the dangerous vicinity of
the Chunchos, is characteristic of the improvidence of the
inhabitants of Vitoc.]

CHAPTER XVI.

Oppressions exercised by the Spaniards upon t