a Spaniard[1], whose reflections on the promotion of agriculture, in a great measure conformable to those we have hazarded, have been very favourably received by the public.
Without the aid of roads, canals, and bridges, distances are enlarged; the interposition of a precipice, a river, an enclosure, or other similar impediment, subjecting the traveller to an infinite number of unnecessary windings and deviations from the track he has to pursue. The active circulation is deadened; since the swamps which continually occur render the passage impracticable, and expose the guide himself to the greatest risks. The cultivated grounds suffer in a remarkable degree, because, with a view to avoid the morasses, the travellers and beasts of burthen turn aside into the corn fields, where they form, in every direction, paths which afford a ready entrance to the flocks and wild beasts; thus defeating the aim of the cultivator, who had employed his best efforts to exclude them from his possession.
These invincible obstacles are the cause why that particular commerce, which consists of the purchase of productions in one province, to sell them in another, is unknown in Peru; as is likewise, on the same account, the employment of carriages, by which the advantages of the transport are doubled; since, if two horses can carry on the back five quintals, they will, with less labour, when harnessed to a cart, draw a load of ten quintals, or even more. The merchandizes being subject both to heavy expences, and wearisome delays, their circulation and exportation are rendered in a manner impracticable.
- ↑ Don Nicholas Arriquibar, in the Sixth Paper of his Political Recreations.
