Of the wells which there are at the point of Santa Elena; of the story
they tell respecting the arrival of giants in those parts; and of the
tar which is found there.
As, at the beginning of this work, I gave a detailed account of all the
ports on the coast of Peru, from Panama to the confines of Chile, which
is a great length of coast, it does not appear necessary to repeat them
here, and for this reason I shall not treat of them. I have also
described the principal places in this province. There are, however,
reports concerning giants in Peru, who landed on the coast at the point
of Santa Elena, within the jurisdiction of this city of Puerto Viejo,
which require notice. I will relate what I have been told, without
paying attention to the various versions of the story current among the
vulgar, who always exaggerate everything. The natives relate the
following tradition, which had been received from their ancestors from
very remote times. There arrived on the coast, in boats made of reeds,
as big as large ships, a party of men of such size that, from the knee
downwards, their height was as great as the entire height of an ordinary
man, though he might be of good stature. Their limbs were all in
proportion to the deformed size of their bodies, and it was a monstrous
thing to see their heads, with hair reaching to the shoulders. Their
eyes were as large as small plates. They had no beards, and were dressed
in the skins of animals, others only in the dress which nature gave
them, and they had no women with them. When they arrived at this point,
they made a sort of village, and even now the sites of their houses are
pointed out. But as they found no water, in order to remedy the want,
they made some very deep wells, works which are truly worthy of
remembrance; for such are their magnitude, that they certainly must have
been executed by very strong men. They dug these wells in the living
rock until they met with water, and then they lined them with masonry
from top to bottom in such sort that they will endure for many ages. The
water in these wells is very good and wholesome, and always so cold that
it is very pleasant to drink it. Having built their village, and made
their wells or cisterns where they could drink, these great men, or
giants, consumed all the provisions they could lay their hands upon in
the surrounding country; insomuch that one of them ate more meat than
fifty of the natives of the country could. As all the food they could
find was not sufficient to sustain them, they killed many fish in the
sea with nets and other gear. They were detested by the natives, because
in using their women they killed them, and the men also in another way.
But the Indians were not sufficiently numerous to destroy this new
people who had come to occupy their lands. They made great leagues
against them, but met with no success. [_The next sentence is unfit for
translation._] All the natives declare that God our Lord brought upon
them a punishment in proportion to the enormity of their offence. While
they were all together, engaged in their accursed ... a fearful and
terrible fire came down from heaven with a great noise, out of the midst
of which there issued a shining angel with a glittering sword, with
which, at one blow, they were all killed, and the fire consumed them.
There only remained a few bones and skulls, which God allowed to remain
without being consumed by the fire, as a memorial of this punishment.
This is what they say concerning these giants, and we believe the
account because in this neighbourhood they have found, and still find,
enormous bones. I have heard from Spaniards who have seen part of a
double tooth, that they judged the whole tooth would have weighed more
than half a butcher’s pound. They also had seen another piece of a shin
bone, and it was marvellous to relate how large it was. These men are
witnesses to the story, and the site of the village may be seen, as well
as the wells and cisterns made by the giants. I am unable to say from
what direction they came, because I do not know.[305]
In this year 1550, I, being in the City of the Kings, heard that, when
the most illustrious Don Antonio de Mendoza was viceroy and governor of
New Spain, they found certain bones of men who must have been even
larger than these giants. I have also heard that previously they
discovered, in a most ancient tomb in the city of Mexico, or in some
other part of that kingdom, certain bones of giants. From all this we
may gather that, as so many persons saw and affirmed these things, these
giants really did exist.
At the point of Santa Elena (which, as I have before said, is on the
coast of Peru within the jurisdiction of the city of Puerto Viejo) there
is a thing well worthy of note, and this is that there are certain
wells, or mines, of such excellent tar, that as many ships as require
caulking might be caulked with it. This tar must be some mineral which
flows out at this place, and it comes forth very hot. I have not seen
any other mines of tar in any of the other parts of the Indies which I
have visited; but I believe that Gonzalo Hernandez de Oviedo, in the
first part of the general history of the Indies, gives an account both
of this and of others. Nevertheless, as I am not writing concerning the
Indies generally, but only of the events which have taken place in Peru,
I do not treat of other parts. With this I shall conclude what I have to
say concerning the city and province of Puerto Viejo.