Province of Caxamarca....Manufactures, Mines....Village de Jesus
....Hawking....Farm of Lagunilla....Inga Tambo....Village of San
Marcos....Feast....Wedding....Village of Ichocan....Mine of
Gualgayoc....Return to the Coast....Village of Chocope....Of San
Pedro....Of Las Lagemas....Of Monsefu....Town of Lambayeque....
Inhabitants, Buildings, New Altar....Manufactures, Soap, Cordovans,
Cotton Goods, Sweetmeats....Fruits, Grain, Pulse....Vegetables....
Market...._Algarroba_, Carob Tree....Village of Eten....Of Morrope
...._Simarones_....Desert of Sechura....Town of Sechura....City of
Piura....Inhabitants, Buildings....Mules....Manufactures....Climate
....Effect on Syphilis....Commerce....Port of Paita....Excellent
Situation for an Astronomical Observatory.
The province of Caxamarca is intersected by ramifications of the
Cordillera; and having several low valleys, it consequently contains the
various climates or temperatures, from extreme heat to intense cold:
thus all kinds of fruit and grain peculiar to different climates are
cultivated in this province: it abounds, also, in all kinds of cattle
and poultry; and many obrages, manufactories of cloth, baizes, blankets,
and tocuyos have been established here.
The most extensive manufactories for woollen cloths are Polloc and
Sondor, belonging (1812) to Don Tomas Bueno; and that for blankets, at
Yana-cancha, belonging, at the same date, to Don Miguel Sarachaga. The
blankets are very tastefully embroidered by the Indians, with loose
yarn, before they undergo the operation of fulling, so that the colours
have the appearance of being stamped on them.
Many silver and gold mines exist in this province; but since the
discovery of the rich ores of Gualgayoc, in the neighbouring province of
Chota, the mines of Caxamarca have been abandoned. On the shores of the
river called de las Crisnejas, which falls into the Marañon, are several
washing places, _lavaderos_, of gold. On the north side of the province,
where it joins that of Jaen, some bark trees are found, the produce of
which is little inferior to the famous cinchona of Loxa.
During my stay at Caxamarca I visited several of the towns and villages;
that called de Jesus, five leagues from the city, is an indian village,
pleasantly situated in a small valley bounded by high mountains, at the
foot of which on the north side runs the Caxamarca river; on the side of
this river several water mills have been erected for grinding wheat, an
abundance of which is cultivated in the neighbourhood. While at this
place I several times visited my friend Don Tomas Arce, for the purpose
of accompanying him to take partridges with falcons; with two of these
birds and a springer we have often returned, after a few hours' sport,
with five or six brace of partridges of the large red legged kind, but
of a very delicate flavour. We frequently set out in the evening and
slept at some farm house on the hills, and in the morning took each of
us a falcon on our hard gloves and rode to the stubble fields; when the
dog sprang the game, we threw up our falcons, and followed them to the
place where they fell with their prey in their talons; this we could
easily discover by the sound of the bells fastened to the legs of the
falcon. We generally gave to our birds the brains of the partridges
which they had killed, then took them on our arms, and mounted to search
for more game. As the country abounds in _venados_, deer, Don Tomas had
trained a falcon to pursue them; he stuffed the skin of one of these
animals, in the eye pits of which he accustomed the bird to search for
its food; he sometimes placed the stuffed skin on the shoulders of a
boy, who ran away with it, when the falcon was allowed to follow him in
quest of its food. In this easy manner the falcon was trained to catch
deer, and it afforded us a great deal of amusement by flying after the
animal and perching on its head; this gave us time to come up and secure
the brute with a laso, or to kill it.
I had been convinced, before I visited this province, that the character
of the South American indians was far different from what it had been
reported to be by all the Spanish writers, excepting the virtuous Las
Casas: otherwise, I should have been astonished at what I saw at this
village, where the indians have had but little intercourse with the
Spaniards, compared with those of whom Ulloa and Condamine so
contemptuously speak. Many festivals are observed at this village by the
indians; and although the Spanish language is little used, and the
Quichua alone is spoken, two, three, or more Spanish plays are performed
by them at each festival, amounting to, at least, twenty in each year.
This fondness for theatrical performances, which the indians evince--the
difficulty they labour under to learn their parts, in a language not
their own--beside the expences incidental to the representations, must
certainly prove that the aspersions of historians are unmerited.
Near to this village is a farm, called la Lagunilla, on which are the
remains of an indian town, most curiously built; many of the houses are
yet entire; they are all built of stone, and surround a small rock or
mountain, which is situated in a valley: the bottom tier or range of
rooms have walls of an amazing thickness, in which I have measured
stones twelve feet long and seven feet high, forming the whole side of a
room, with one or more large stones laid across, which serve as a roof.
Above these houses another tier was built in the same manner, on the
back of which are the entrances or doorways, and a second row had their
backs to the mountain. The roofs of the second tier in front had been
covered with stone, and probably formed a promenade; a second tier of
rooms thus rested on the roofs of the first tier, which were on a level
with the second front tier. In this manner one double tier of dwelling
rooms was built above another to the height of seven tiers. On the top
are many ruins, apparently of a palace or fortress.
When I first visited this place, I imagined that the rooms were
excavations in the rock; but I was very soon convinced that the whole
had been built, and I was astonished at contemplating such immense
labour, the real purpose of which is now unknown. The rooms are seldom
more than about twelve feet square and seven feet high, with a high
door-way in front, narrower at the top than at the bottom; the stone
has been wrought for the fronts into irregular sized squares, which are
cemented together. Some of the thick walls are formed of two casings of
stone, and the interstice is filled up with small stones and pebbles,
held together with well tempered reddish clay, which at present forms so
solid a mass, that it is almost equal to stone. The cement used to hold
the stones together, was, doubtless, tempered clay; but so little was
used, that some have imagined that the stones were merely placed one
upon another; in this surmise, however, they were evidently mistaken.
The whole of this building would have contained at least five thousand
families; but we are not certain that it was ever applied to that
purpose. Some traditions call it one of the palaces, or houses of
reception, for the Incas when they travelled; but this is by no means
probable, for it does not stand within a league of the great road of the
Incas, and being only five leagues from Caxamarca, it is not likely that
such an edifice would have been built for such a purpose. Others state,
that it was the general granary for this part of the country in the time
of the Incas; but this is also subject to the same objections; for, as I
have already mentioned, the remains of one exist on the farm belonging
to Doña Mercedes Arce, near to Caxamarca; and the ruins of all those
granaries which I have seen at different places are a kind of cisterns,
walled round either with adobes or rough hewn stones. It appears to me
as far more probable, that this was the residence of the Chimu of
Chicama, when he resided in the interior of his territory, before it
became subject to the Inca Pachacutec. The top of the mountain appears
to have been covered with buildings of a superior kind to the rest; for
some of the foundations may be traced, enclosing rooms and courts more
extensive than are to be found in any other part of this mass of
buildings. There are four principal roads leading from the bottom to the
top, corresponding with the four cardinal points; and from each of these
roads or streets the inhabitants could walk on the tops of their houses
to the next, and probably round the whole by bridges laid across the
intersecting roads; so that seven promenades were thus formed, besides
the six circular streets. The proprietor of this estate, Don Tomas
Bueno, fancied that it was the remains of an ancient temple, and
supposed that a great treasure was somewhere hidden; but I never could
persuade him to cut an adit through it in search of the huaca. Here are
no remains of delicate sculpture, although a few arabesques may be seen
on some of the stones; nor is there any appearance of elegant
architecture, for which the ancient Greeks and Romans were so famous.
However, the immense ingenuity of the builders in conveying and placing
such huge masses of stone in such a situation, as well as the extracting
them from the quarries without machinery, and shaping them without iron
tools, must astound the contemplating beholder of these ruins, and make
him blush at hearing the builders called barbarians. Such epithets are
equally applicable to the Egyptians, on viewing their rude ancient
monuments; but we feel conscious that these people were in possession of
the arts and sciences when our forefathers in Europe were in a state of
barbarity; we consider, too, that from their plantations the first
scions were brought to Greece and Italy, and that these exotics were
afterwards transplanted into our own country.
Near to these ruins is a small lake, _laguna_, from which the estate
derives its name; it is of an oval figure, the transverse axis being
nine hundred yards, and the conjugate six hundred and fifty. One side of
the lake rests on the foot of the mountains, which separate the farm
from the valley of Caxamarca, on the opposite side of which mountains
the river runs. An excavation or tunnel is cut through one of these
mountains, through which the water of the lake is discharged into the
river, when it rises nearly to a level with the surrounding land, and
thus a flooding of it is prevented. This lake was probably the quarry
whence the stone was taken for the building just described, and the
passage was probably opened at the same time by the indians, to prevent
the water from deluging the low lands, which bespeaks that attention to
economy so evident in the establishments of the ancient Peruvians.
The farm house here, with all the stables and other buildings, are of
stone, brought from the _Tambo del Inca_, as the ruins are called: all
the yards are paved with the same, and they have a very neat and clean
appearance; however, I could not help wishing that the stones had
remained undisturbed in their former interesting situation; but many
have also been carried, for the same purposes, to different places.
I visited the town of San Marcos, eight leagues from Caxamarca; it is
most delightfully situated in a very fruitful valley, enjoying all the
benefits of a tropical climate, and affording a rich variety of fruits:
the apples, peaches, and other European fruits, are found in great
perfection, as well as oranges, lemons, paltas, bananas, plantains, &c.
My visit to this town happened at the time of the annual festival; on
this account I was entertained with bull fights, indian dancers, and the
representation of theatrical pieces; the town was full of visitors from
the neighbouring country, and every countenance bore a smile of
satisfaction, while mirth and pleasure appeared to reign in every
breast.
I was present in the parish church, which is a large neat brick and
stone building, very much ornamented within, at the celebration of the
wedding of a son and daughter of two Caciques, the boy being eleven
years old, and the girl thirteen. When they left the church, after the
ceremony was over, they ran in different directions, the boy to play
with his comrades, and the girl to join hers, as if they had merely been
at church as spectators, and not the parties concerned. I afterwards
asked the cura how it happened, that two such thoughtless children
should be married? He answered me, "_por rason de estado_," giving me to
understand, that as they were both of noble origin, their parents had
married them at that age to prevent them marrying with their inferiors.
The principal benefit derived from preserving the nobility of the
families is, their children being admissible into the colleges, and to
the three learned bodies, divinity, law, and physic.
Two leagues from San Marcos stands the village of Ichocan, on the top of
an eminence, consequently its climate is very cold; the cura here was an
indian, and from his corpulency might be known, according to an adage in
Peru, that he was a Cacique; for when a person is very jolly, it is
generally said, that he is as fat as a Cacique, _tan gordo como un
Cacique_. This cura was for some time the vicar of the province, and was
looked upon as an oracle in Latinity and Theology. He was a very
cheerful companion, possessed an extensive library of Latin, Greek,
English, and French books, which he had studied; and was more acquainted
with general science than any other person I met with in this part of
Peru.
The produce of the parish of Ichocan is confined almost entirely to
wheat, but it is considered the best, and fetches the highest price of
any in the whole district; it sells on an average for from three to
three and a half dollars the _fanega_, which is nearly three bushels. I
afterwards visited several other villages; but a description of them
would only be tedious and uninteresting. The natives of this province
are noted for industry and hospitality; the population of indians at the
time of the conquest was very extensive, forming upwards of five hundred
settlements; but they are now reduced to forty-six.
The capital of the province is so situated, that it is likely to become
an important commercial town; it is now the great market for this
province, as well as for those of Chota, Chachapoyas, and Guallubamba.
Eighteen leagues from Caxamarca is the celebrated silver mine called
Gualgayoc, which, from the slovenly manner in which it has been wrought,
produces but little good ore at present (1812); although ten years ago
it was considered superior to the celebrated mine at Pasco: quantities
of ore were extracted from the two shafts called _la mina del rey_, and
_la del purgatorio_, which yielded a hundred and forty marks per caxon
of fifty quintals.
I left Caxamarca and returned to Truxillo, and thence proceeded along
the coast to the northward. My first stage of eleven leagues was to
Chocope, a neat village containing about forty houses, chiefly inhabited
by white families; it stands on a part of the valley of Chicama. In the
year 1746 this village was totally ruined by rain, which continued for
thirty-four successive nights. The sky was clear during the day from
sunrise to sunset, at which time it began to rain; and as such a
phenomenon was totally unexpected, and the houses constructed of
materials unable to resist it, the whole of the village was destroyed.
In 1748 it rained in the same manner for eleven nights; but since that
period there has been no repetition of so destructive an occurrence, nor
is there any record of a similar one before that time on this or any
other part of the Peruvian coast, from 18° to 4° of latitude. It is also
extraordinary, that this rain did not extend six leagues either to the
north or to the south.
My next stage of thirteen leagues brought me to San Pedro, after passing
a small village called Payjan. San Pedro is composed of about a hundred
and fifty houses, of _baxareque_, canes cased with clay: it is a parish
belonging to the order of Augustin friars, who have a small convent
here. The population is composed principally of indians, whose chief
occupation is the cultivation of the lands in the valley of the same
name, which is watered by the river Pacasmayo, and produces most
abundant crops of wheat; it was formerly considered to be the granary of
Lima; but after the earthquake in 1687 the crops entirely failed for
almost twenty years; since which period the land has again resumed its
usual fertility. This circumstance has been already mentioned when
speaking of Lima and la Barranca. At this time the Peruvians began to
send their vessels to Chile for wheat, which commerce has been
constantly kept up ever since, and to which Chile is indebted for many
comforts among the lower classes, and for many rich capitals among the
higher. The indians of San Pedro are particularly cleanly in their
persons and houses; but I had been told that their chicha was mascada,
chewed; and although the natives assured me that they had of both kinds,
I was fearful of being deceived--I did not wish to have a second-hand or
rather a second-mouthed beverage, so I drank water. The indians appeared
here to be perfectly comfortable and happy; and as their allotments of
land produced them a reasonable competency, they seemed to be a people
almost independent of their conquerors.
The next stage brought me to las Lagunas, a distance of nine leagues,
having forded on the road the river Xequetepeque, about half a league
below the village of the same name. Las Lagunas, the lakes, is a low
swampy country, formed by the overflowings of the river Saña; the small
lakes which are formed are filled with wild ducks, some of which are of
a most beautiful plumage, and very delicate eating. Here are only a few
huts, partly for the accommodation of travellers, and partly the
residence of fishermen, who catch large quantities of very fine lisas,
and dry them for sale; these are so very delicate when grilled, that
travellers look forward to their arrival at Lagunas to eat them. Five
leagues from this place is the village of Monsefu, which is a remarkably
handsome place; the houses are very neatly built, with wide corridors in
front, and whitewashed; several small streams of water cross the
principal street; these are employed in irrigating the gardens and the
orchards, which are attached to almost all the houses, and which produce
most excellent grapes, quinces, pomegranates and other fruits, both
European and tropical, particularly _cambures_, which are very small
bananas, and are equal in flavour to the most delicate ripe pears. After
dining here on _gualdrapas_, goat's flesh, taken from the upper part of
the neck, slightly salted and dried, and which is very similar to
venison, we proceeded to Lambayeque, travelling through a wood of
_algarrobas_, carob trees, for more than three leagues.
Lambayeque is the capital of the province, and the residence of the
Subdelegado; it has always attracted the attention of travellers, as
being the most populous and the greatest trading town between Lima and
Guayaquil. It is situated about two leagues from the sea, and four from
its sea-port, called Pacasmayo, where the river of this name enters the
Pacific, partly by which river and partly by the river Lambayeque the
town and the surrounding country are watered.
The town of Lambayeque contains upwards of eight thousand inhabitants,
Spanish, creoles, indians, negroes, and mixed breeds, or castes. Some of
the houses are large and commodious; the parish church is of stone; it
is a handsome edifice, and contains many costly ornaments. Attached to
it are four chapels of ease, called _ramadas_; these are so many
parishes of indians, each having a cura, independent of the cura of the
_matris_, or parish church, of the white inhabitants. I was at this town
in 1811, when the first mass was celebrated at the new altar, built at
the expence of Dr. Delgado, and dedicated to _Nuestra Señora del
Carmen_; at this time a most sumptuous feast was held during a whole
week, attended with bull fights, mains of cocks, and horse racing during
the day; with balls, _tertulias_, chit-chat parties, and gambling, at
night; and the whole of the inhabitants seemed entirely devoted to mirth
and pleasure.
The principal manufactures here are soap, cordovans of goats' skins,
cotton cloths, and sweetmeats. From the extensive flocks of goats which
are fed in the algarroba wood which surrounds this town, the tallow is
procured for the soap manufactories, and the alkali is obtained from the
_lico_, salsola, which is found in abundance in this province, as well
as in that of Saña, and the valley of Chicama. The soap is very hard,
and is cut into cakes or small bars, four of which, and sometimes six,
only weigh a pound; the average price is from twenty to twenty-five
dollars the quintal. Its quality is far inferior to that of English
soap, owing particularly to its hardness, and the quantities of
impurities which it contains; notwithstanding which, it is preferred to
any other soap--such is the obstinacy implanted by the habit of using
it.
The skins of the goats are tanned with the bark of the huarango, and
sometimes with that of the algarroba, and the cordovans are of an
excellent quality. These articles have a very extensive sale, which
extends to the whole coast of Peru and many of the provinces in the
interior, as well as to the province of Guayaquil, and to different
parts of the kingdom of Quito.
Quantities of tocuyo, counterpanes, table cloths, napkins and other
articles of cotton, some of which are very fine, are manufactured here,
as well as cotton canvass, or sail cloth; notwithstanding the extent of
these works, all the yarn is spun with the distaff and spindle, so that
all the females of the lower classes find constant employment. The
tocuyos made here are not considered so good, and consequently are not
in such demand as those of Conchucos, but an extensive trade is carried
on in the other articles. Here is an extensive mill for cleaning the
cotton from the seeds, similar to that at Casma, and some large
remittances of cotton have been made from this place to Europe.
The manufacture of sweetmeats consists chiefly of marmalade and jelly,
made from quinces, guavas, and limes. It is packed in chip boxes, each
holding about two pounds, which sell at half a dollar each; they are
sent to Lima, Guayaquil, and other places along the coast. Hats of palm
and _junco_, fine rushes, are made here, and carried to the same markets
as the other manufactures.
Oranges, limes, lemons, grapes, guavas, pacays, melons, paltas,
huanabanas, chirimoyas, anonas, plantains, bananas, pomegranates,
granadialls, tumbos, quinces, pine-apples, and many other fruits grow
here and in the neighbourhood in great abundance, and they are of an
excellent quality; apples, pears, and other European fruits do not
thrive. Wheat, maize, beans, lentils, garbansos, and other pulse, also
yucas, batatas or sweet potatoes, yams, and other esculents, as well as
potatoes and all kinds of culinary vegetables, arrive at great
perfection; hence the market is abundantly supplied with them, as well
as with good beef, fish and poultry; mutton is scarce and not very good,
but the young kid is superior to lamb.
The _algarroba_, carob tree, grows in the vicinity of Lambayeque in
great abundance, and is of such utility, that a law exists to prevent
the owners from cutting them down: they grow to the size of our largest
oaks; the wood is very hard, the leaf small, and the branches bear an
abundance of clusters of pods, about four inches long and three-quarters
of an inch broad, containing five or six black seeds, like small beans.
When ripe the pod is of a brown colour, and has a sweet taste; the
cattle are very fond of it, and become very fat with eating it; the
mules that feed on the carob pods, after a journey to Lima, a hundred
and forty leagues, return apparently fat; but the greatest profit
derived from this valuable tree is from the number of goats which are
annually fed on the pods. These animals reach the lower branches of the
trees themselves, and they are afterwards assisted in procuring their
food by the goatherds, who climb the trees, and beat down the leaves and
pods with long canes. At certain times of the year, when the pods become
scarce, the goats will follow their goatherds any where, without the
need of a driver, as if conscious that their existence depended on the
assistance of their keepers. Some of the goats will become so plump,
that it is not uncommon for one goat to yield a quintal, one hundred
pounds weight, of tallow and fat; for the whole of the fat is separated
from the flesh, this latter being considered of very little value,
excepting that part which covers the bones of the neck, which is eaten
as a delicacy, and is really equal to venison. A considerable share of
superstition belongs to the goatherds, who are indians. They believe
that some men have the power, by witchcraft, to convey the fat of one
flock of goats to another, if care be not taken to prevent them from so
doing; for the prevention of this mischief they have different amulets,
which they tie round the necks or horns of the old goats, especially
those which are called the Captains of the flocks. These charms consist
of shells, beans, and a kind of nutmeg brought from the province of Jaen
de Bracamoros. I was several times entertained by the tales told by the
indians; they would assert, that a flock of fat goats had been placed
under the care of an unskilful goatherd, and that in one night a wizard,
_hichisero_, had deprived them of all their fat, and conveyed it to
another flock, to the astonishment, of particularly one party, who in
the morning found his fat flock reduced to skin and bone, bleating their
lamentations for the loss which they had sustained.
From the pods of the algarroba the indians make chicha, by merely
infusing them in water, straining it, and allowing it to ferment: at the
expiration of three or four days it is very palatable, and if proper
attention were paid to it, I believe that a very delicate wine would be
procured. Small cakes called _arepas_ are sometimes made by the indians
from the pods reduced to powder; they are certainly not unpalatable,
though very coarse.
Five leagues from Lambeyeque is a village called Chiclayo, which is the
neatest and most social place along the whole coast; it contains several
respectable inhabitants, its situation in the valley of Lambayeque is
delightful; the productions and the market are good. It has a small
convent of Franciscans, to which order the curacy belongs.
The trade of Lambayeque, owing to its productions and the industry of
the inhabitants, is very extensive; the neighbouring provinces depend on
its manufactories, and it will undoubtedly become the great mart for the
inland provinces for European goods. Some of the shops and stores are
well stocked with European manufactures, of which the sale is very
extensive; and as its commerce extends to countries of such different
climates, all kinds of useful foreign articles are in considerable
demand. The town of Eten stands on a sandy plain, and is entirely
inhabited by indians; these are the only people who speak the Chimu
dialect which is the original language of the coast of Peru, and so
different from the Quichua, that I could not understand a single word,
nor trace any analogy between them, and beyond the limits of their town
their language is unintelligible. It may very reasonably be expected
that these people possess the true character of the indians; if they do,
it is a very worthy one; they are temperate, industrious and kind; they
do not allow any person except indians to reside among them, and a
traveller is only suffered to remain three days in the town; but the
Alcaldes always take care that he be provided with whatever he may
require. Cotton cloths to a large extent are manufactured here, and the
natives wear nothing that is not made by their own hands; hence many of
them are possessed of considerable wealth, for the sale of their own
goods is very extensive. They differ in their dress from the generality
of the indians; the men wear white jackets and breeches, these having a
slip of red cloth at the knees, in which the button holes are wrought;
the females wear a kind of long black or blue tunic, without sleeves,
girt round the waist; both sexes wear straw hats, and very seldom put on
shoes.
When I left Lambayeque I was obliged to prepare myself with a guide, and
a spare mule, for water and provisions, as well for ourselves as for the
animals, because we had now to traverse the desert of Sechura, the
largest on the Peruvian coast. We left Lambayeque, and halted the first
night at a small village called Morope, four leagues distant from that
place. The road between these towns is often frequented by robbers, who
are generally runaway slaves, _simarones_, who lurk among the low
brushwood on the road sides, and attack the passengers; they seldom
molest a person if they observe that he is armed, but they plunder the
indians and mountaineers, _serranos_, of their money and goods, and
murders are more frequently committed here than in any part of Peru. A
short time before I passed this way, the police officers and the militia
had apprehended five of these simarones; to effect this they set the
brushwood on fire in several places, and in a short time the whole was
in flames, so that the robbers were actually burnt out of their hiding
places.
Morope contains about ninety houses or huts, ranchos, built of cane
covered with clay, and a thousand inhabitants, all indians. The parish
church is a large neat building, extremely clean, and tastefully
ornamented within. We here filled our calabashes with water, and my
indian guide purchased some maize for the mules; as the chicha here is
mascada, I preferred putting water into my two small calabashes, which I
carried in my saddle bags, _alforjas_.
We left Morope at four o'clock in the afternoon, and arrived before it
was dark at the _Medanos_; these are hills of sand in the form of a
crescent, the convex side being always opposed to the wind, for as it
shifts, the sand is blown up the one side and falls down on the other;
thus these hills are continually changing their size and situation,
flitting from one place to another, to the imminent danger of a
traveller, should his guide be ignorant of the road, for all traces
disappear, by the sand continually drifting along with the wind. If a
guide have any reason to suspect that he is out of the track, he will
alight, take up a handful of the sand and smell to it, because the dung
and urine of the mules that traverse the desert communicate an odour to
the sand along the road, which in other parts it does not possess. About
midnight we met a troop of laden mules, and halted to converse with the
muleteers; we drank some of their chicha, and I invited them to partake
of ours; I had brought some brandy, _aguardiente_, and had no chicha,
but they did not appear to relish it less than they would have done
their countrymen's liquor, for they emptied my bottle. I drank some of
theirs, and ate some sweet cakes, which they called _alfajor_; they were
very good. At parting I told them I was glad I had met them, because it
was a proof that we were not bewildered: that could not happen, said my
guide, for the Cross is our director, pointing to the constellation
behind us in the heavens; and it is not midnight yet, said he, for the
cross leans to yesterday; the two stars at the top and the foot of this
beautiful constellation were not erect in the south.
After travelling about two leagues more, we met a traveller with his
guide, who saluted us with _buen viage_, a good journey to you; morning
is coming, the cross bends to the sea, and I must arrive early at
Morope. This was an excuse for not halting; and we continued our route.
When the first rays of morning began to appear, the air became suddenly
chill, and I put on my poncho; my guide did the same, and said to me,
"the light drives the frosty air from the mountains, _serros_, before
it; it is always cold in the morning in the desert, but this refreshes
us before the sun comes to burn us in the rest of our journey." Whether
this chilly sensation felt at sunrise be merely the result of the
absence of the sun, for it is then the longest period since it set; or
whether it be partly apprehension at beholding the sun again without
feeling the heat which it afterwards communicates, I cannot determine;
but I have universally experienced the effect in tropical climates.
During the whole of this day, we saw nothing save sand and sky; and
although I was accustomed to travel on the coasts of this country, I now
experienced an indescribable dulness and languor; at length, before
night closed, the two steeples of the church at Sechura became visible;
but they had more the appearance of a vessel at sea than of church
steeples. At nine o'clock on the following morning we arrived at the
town of Sechura; I went to the house of the alcalde, and immediately
laid myself down and slept very soundly, being excessively fatigued by a
journey of forty leagues over the most dreary country I had ever
witnessed.
The town of Sechura contains about two hundred and fifty houses, and two
thousand inhabitants, all of whom are indians, equally industrious and
temperate as those of Eten; the men are principally muleteers and
fishermen, the women employ themselves in spinning and weaving cotton.
The church in this town is a surprising edifice; it has two very high
steeples, and a handsome cupola built of brick; it is roofed with cane,
which is covered with clay, and the whole evinces enormous labour, both
in procuring the materials of which it is built, as well as in the
erection of the edifice; it is, indeed, one of those monuments of
industry and labour which must ever attract the attention of travellers.
This is the first town in the jurisdiction of Piura, and all passengers
must present to the alcalde their passports, without which they cannot
obtain either mules or a guide.
I left Sechura immediately after I awoke, and had taken some
refreshment, feeling anxious to arrive at Piura, it being the first town
founded by the Spaniards in South America. After travelling over ten
leagues, all of which is a sandy plain, I arrived at Piura, and
immediately went to the house of a gentleman for whom I had letters; and
although it was near midnight I received a hearty welcome from all the
family, who left their beds to see the stranger.
Although Piura is always accounted the first Spanish settlement in South
America, it is not exactly the same place which Pizarro founded in 1531;
that town stood on the plain of Targasola, at a short distance from the
site of the present city, and from whence it was removed on account of
the insalubrity of the climate. The present city, which is the capital
of the province, was founded by Don Francisco Pizarro, who also built
here the first Christian church in Peru. It contains at present a parish
church, a convent of San Francisco and one of La Merced, and a hospital
under the management of the Bethlemite Friars. The houses are built
either of canes covered with clay, or of sun-dried bricks; and very few
have an upper story. The streets are not paved, and consequently, like
those of Truxillo, they are almost ankle deep in sand and dirt. The
enormous quantity of bugs in the houses is quite a nuisance. The
inhabitants of Piura amount to about nine thousand; they are Spaniards,
white creoles, indians, negroes, and mixed breeds.
Piura is noted for the finest breed of mules in Peru; many are taken to
Truxillo, Lima and other places, both on the coast and in the interior,
for sale; some of them fetch the amazing high price of two hundred and
fifty dollars each. The breed of goats is also very extensive in this
district; in the capital large quantities of soap and leather,
_cordovanes_, are prepared and carried for sale to Guayaquil, Quito,
Cuenca, Panama, and Lima. Some cotton goods are manufactured here, but
not to the same extent as at Lambayeque. The principal occupation of the
men is to attend to their mules, for the services of which there is
great demand, because all the goods landed at Piura are carried by mules
to Lima, a distance of three hundred and eighty leagues, besides which
their own productions are thus transported to that and other places. The
manufacture of cordage from the _maguey_ employs many persons in the
interior of the province, and considerable quantities of this cordage
is consumed by the merchants in Peru in cording bales of merchandize and
other similar purposes; but it has never yet been applied to naval
equipments, except in the canoes and balsas.
As part of this province is mountainous, it contains a variety of
climates; but that of the capital is hot and dry to such a degree, that
if a sheet of paper be placed on the ground in the evening, it may be
taken up at any hour of the night or morning, and written on without any
inconvenience, for it will be found perfectly dry. Many persons
afflicted with syphilis resort to Piura for the purpose of being cured,
which is effected by merely residing here, without the aid of any
medicine. It is believed that the water which is usually drunk
contributes more to the re-establishment of their health than the
climate; for, in its course, it runs over very extensive beds of
sarsaparilla, and the fallen trees of _palo santo_, the guiaco trees;
and as the bed of the river is completely dry during the summer months,
the inhabitants are obliged to dig wells in the bed of the river, at
which time the water being more strongly impregnated with the virtues of
these two vegetables, it is considered more efficacious in removing that
disease. Some patients are buried to the neck in the sand for one or
two hours, and drink copiously of the water, by which means a most
profuse perspiration is produced, and their cure is very much
facilitated. The poor people here make use of pieces of dry palo santo
as a substitute for candles; they merely light the end of the stick, and
a flame of a reddish colour is produced, which continues to burn till
the whole stick is consumed, communicating an agreeable scent to the
house.
Piura is not well situated for mercantile business; it commands none of
the interior provinces, and its own population can never render it a
place of importance. Fourteen leagues from Piura is the sea-port of
Paita, and to the goods landed here from Panama, destined to be carried
to different parts of Peru, the inhabitants of Piura owe their principal
occupation.
Paita is a very commodious and well frequented port, in latitude 5° 5´
S.; the anchorage is good, and the landing is excellent. The town of
Paita was destroyed in 1741 by Anson; in the church of the Merced the
friars shew an image of the Virgin Mary, which had its throat cut by one
of the heretics who accompanied Anson, the blood yet remaining on her
neck, and the wound unhealed. The present town is composed of about two
hundred houses; the inhabitants are principally indians, many of them
are employed in a seafaring life, and they are considered to be good
sailors. The country around Paita is a complete barren sandy desert, not
a drop of water nor a green leaf is any where to be seen, and the heat
is remarkably oppressive. The water used here is brought from the river
Colan, four leagues to the northward of Paita, in large calabashes, or
earthen jars, on balsas or rafts, and it is consequently sold at a very
high price to the ships in need of it, as well as to the inhabitants.
Here is a Custom House, with the necessary revenue officers and a
Governor. On the south side of the bay is a small fort, with four long
brass cannons of eighteen pound calibre.
Owing to the constant clearness of the sky at Paita, perhaps no place in
the world is better suited for an astronomical observatory; the stars
are always visible at night, owing to the total absence of clouds;
besides which the atmosphere is at all times of nearly the same density;
no mists, dews or fogs, ever pervade it; it is surrounded by the Pacific
Ocean on one side, and extensive sandy plains on the other; and, owing
to the brilliancy with which the celestial bodies shine here, it is
become proverbial to say, "as bright as the moon at Paita."
I embarked at Paita in a small brig belonging to an indian, who was the
captain, and after a tedious coasting voyage of fifty-one days arrived
at Callao.