The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 335, October 11, 1828Various
History
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 335, October 11, 1828
Various
Popular literature -- Great Britain -- Periodicals
When general Cordova's division marched from Cuzco to Puno, it halted at
Santa Rosa. During the night there was a heavy fall of snow. They
continued their march the next morning. The effects of the rays of the sun
reflected from the snow upon the eyes, produces a disease, which the
Peruvians call _surumpi_. It occasions blindness, accompanied by
excruciating pains. A pimple forms in the eye-ball, and causes an itching,
pricking pain, as though needles were continually piercing it. The
temporary loss of sight is occasioned by the impossibility of opening the
eye-lids for a single moment, the smallest ray of light being absolutely
insupportable. The only relief is a poultice of snow, but as that melts
away the tortures return. With the exception of twenty men and the guides,
who knew how to guard against the calamity, the whole division were struck
blind three leagues distant from the nearest human habitation. The guides
galloped on to a village in advance, and brought out a hundred Indians to
assist in leading the men. Many of the sufferers, maddened by pain, had
strayed away from the column, and perished before the return of the
guides, who, together with the Indians, took charge of long files of the
poor sightless soldiers, clinging to each other with agonized and
desperate grasp. During their dreary march by a rugged mountain path,
several fell down precipices, and were never heard of more. General Miller
suffered only fifteen hours from the _surumpi_, but the complaint
usually continues two days. Out of three thousand men, General Cordova
lost above a hundred. The regiment most affected was the _voltigeros_
(formerly Numancia), which had marched by land from Caracas, a distance of
upwards of two thousand leagues.
General Miller's share in the triumph of Junin was witnessed by Bolivar,
in August, 1824; and at the victory of Ayacucho, which terminated the war
in Peru, general Miller was foremost in the thickest of the fight.
We are now drawing near to the close of our outline of the general's
brilliant career. At the conclusion of the war in 1825, he was appointed
prefect of the department of Potosi, with a population of 300,000 souls.
He was going on prosperously in his labours of peace, in improving the
condition of the natives, who had for three centuries been writhing under
the most infamous oppression, when his health required that he should
visit Europe. In October, 1825, he resigned his honourable office, and
obtained leave of absence to return to his native country, bringing with
him an unsolicited testimonial from Bolivar, of his heroism in the
campaign of 1824. General Miller is now in England, and in circles where
his merit is known, he is received with the highest respect.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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