Peru as It Is, Volume 2 (of 2): A Residence in Lima, and Other Parts of the Peruvian Republic, Comprising an Account of the Social and Physical Features of That CountrySmith, Archibald
History
Peru as It Is, Volume 2 (of 2): A Residence in Lima, and Other Parts of the Peruvian Republic, Comprising an Account of the Social and Physical Features of That Country
Smith, Archibald
Peru -- Description and travel
The failure implied on this occasion may possibly have been less the
fault of the system than of those who offered to apply it; for it was
remarked as very worthy the consideration of the honourable junta, that,
in reference to many of the schools intended for the improvement of the
indigenous or Indian race, wherein they were merely taught a jargon of
Spanish which they could not comprehend, it were better for them to be
left in an untutored state of mind than to be placed under the melancholy
influence of such teachers as presided over them. These were represented
to be so imbecile, and so unacquainted with the merest rudiments of
reading, or so abandoned and drowned in vice, as to be persons utterly
unfit to guide the mind of infancy and innocence into a proper path.
The junta were therefore called upon by their prefect to appoint some
better means of instruction, which might at once serve to improve the
virtuous feelings of the individual, and promote the national cause of
civilization.
HOSPITALS AND CHARITABLE ASYLUMS.
It is affecting to think that, notwithstanding the wealth of which this
department is the seat, the sick and invalid in general cannot find a
home or place of assistance under their sufferings.
In Huaras, as well as in Huanuco, there were formerly well-endowed
hospitals, but these are now fallen into such decay for want of funds
for their support, that few indeed are the sick who can be accommodated
or relieved in them; and, consequently, those in charge of these once
useful establishments are daily put to the pain of refusing admission to
a great many distressed persons, who are induced to seek their protection
in the hope of being cured of their ailments, or, if not, at least to
breathe their last in the bosom of kindness and charity.
We are told by the prefect that an asylum or house of relief for the
distressed poor never existed in the department: but, in his report
to the departmental junta, he urges with an earnestness honourable
to his feelings, that humanity calls for the immediate institution
of establishments of this kind on behalf of the wretched victims of
misfortune, whose very misery plunges them into despair. He also holds
it to be a matter of public expediency to find a fixed home, and steady
occupation, for those abandoned objects of compassion, who make traffic
of their degradation and a boast of their debasement.
VACCINATION.
In the year 1832, it was found that the small-pox had just left dismal
traces of its ravages in the department: fathers mourned their children
now dead, or so disfigured and mutilated as to become unfit for the
active business of life; the widow, too, wept for her lost husband, and
the offspring of a mutual affection were left to feel the want of a
father’s care.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account