It Is Reported
That, From Tumbez To Chili, There Are No Peacocks, Hens, Cocks, Nor Any
Eagles, Hawks, Kites, Or
Other ravenous birds; but there are many ducks,
geese, herns, pigeons, partridges, quails, and many other kinds of birds.
There
Is likewise a certain fowl like a duck, which has no wings, but is
covered all over with fine thin feathers. A certain species of bitterns
are said to make war upon the sea-wolf or seal; for when this bird finds
them on land, it tries to pick out their eyes, that they may not see their
way back to the water, and then kills them; and the fight between the
bitterns and the seals is said to be a pleasant sight.
Those who live on the tops of the Andes, between the cold and the heat,
are mostly blind of one eye, and some are totally blind; so that hardly
can two men be found but one of them at least is half blind.
Notwithstanding the great heat of the sand in Peru, it yields good crops
of Maize and Potatoes, and an herb called _cocoa_, which the natives carry
continually in their mouths, as those in the East Indies do _Betle_, and
which they say satisfies both hunger and thirst. It is affirmed that, from
Tumbez southwards, for the space of 500 leagues, there is neither rain,
thunder nor lightning, with only some light showers. In Peru, there are
certain animals, called _xacos_[93] by the natives, and sheep by the
Spaniards, because they are covered with wool; but their shape resembles
that of deer, and they have saddle backs like a camel, and are capable of
carrying burdens of about a hundred weight each.
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