obtained from the monasteries in the country; but this nucleus of a fine national collection was stolen by the Chilian army when they invaded the capital in 1881, many items finding their way down to Santiago, the rest being sold at upset prices to the shopkeepers in the capital. Nothing daunted by this, the people of Lima started afresh to form the present collection of over 50,000 works, all of the available portions of the original library having been repurchased to restore in some measure the unique character of the collection. The environs of Lima are very pleasant. The vast plain upon which the city stands is well cultivated, and sowing goes on for nine months of the year. Little villages and hamlets with unpretentious houses and huts. The walls of the houses, like those which divide the fields, have a very solid and antique appearance. The brown mud colour is a feature which at once suggests the dominant characteristic of the old Moorish cities. [Illustration: A MILKMAID, LIMA.] Peru is unfortunate in having much of her territory inaccessible from the Pacific or from the capital, and the difficulties of administering her wild forest lands on the eastern slopes of the Cordillera have led to the rubber scandals recently brought to light. The difficulty of communicating with the heart of their country is common to all the South American republics. Brazil has her Matto Grosso and Acre territories; Argentina and Chili the great desolate pampas of the south; and Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, the same problems with regard to much of their territory. Great tracts of the vast continent are still unknown and unexplored; and even when they are, many of them will offer little or no inducement for civilised settlement. Undreamt-of mysteries may exist hidden in the depths of the almost impenetrable forests. Explorers are busy in the country delimiting boundaries and investigating untrodden regions, and the difficulties they encounter all point to the almost impossibility of bringing many of the large tracts under the influences of modern civilisation. The early conquistadors were unrestrained by scruples in their treatment of native races, but the modern Governments have the eyes of a more humane and censorious world upon them. Immigrants are eagerly desired by the Peruvian Government to develop the vast agricultural lands for the production of sugar, cotton, linseed, rice, tobacco, coffee, vines, fruits, and vegetables. On the high lands, where cattle can be raised, there is a great demand for suitable labour. Indeed, from the north of the continent to the south the cry is for workers. Nature having done her share to enrich the race, now only waits for mankind to avail themselves of her bounty. CHAPTER XII _Peru--“The Country of Marvels”_