In These Mountains And Countries,
The Soil Is In Some Places Black, In Others White, Or Red, Blue, Green,
Yellow, And Violet; And, With Some Of These Earths, The Natives Dye
Various Colours, Without Using Any Other Mixture.
From the bottoms of
these mountains, but principally on the east side, there flow many rivers,
both small and great.
Among these are the rivers Amazons, St Francis, and
La Plata, and many others, which pervade the country of Brasil[91], which
are much larger than those of Peru, or of Castilia del Oro. The country of
Peru, between the Andes and the western sea or Pacific, is from 15 to 20
leagues in breadth, all of a hot sandy soil, yet fertile, as being well
watered, and produces many excellent trees and fruits. It produces many
turnips, rapes, and other such herbs and roots; likewise abundance of
flags, rushes, herbs, and flowers, of so loose and tender a texture, that
the leaves drop off on the slightest touch. Among these herbs and fresh
flowers, the natives often dwell without beds or houses, even like cattle
in the fields, and some of them have tails[92]. These people are gross,
and wear long hair, but have no beards; and they speak divers languages.
One of the plants of this region called _aipo_, resembles rue, and bears a
yellow flower, which cures all kinds of rotten sores; yet, if applied to
sound flesh, will eat it to the bone.
They say that these mountains abound in tigers, lions, bears, wolves, wild-
cats, foxes, dantes, ounces, hogs, and deer; and with many birds, both
ravenous and others, most of them being black; while under the north, both
birds and beasts are mostly white. There are also great numbers of large
and terrible snakes, which are said to have destroyed a whole army of one
of the Incas, that was marching this way: Yet, according to report, an old
woman did so enchant them, that they became quite harmless and gentle,
insomuch that they would allow people to sit upon them. 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. The Spaniards ride upon
them; and, when weary, they turn their heads backward, and void a
wonderfully stinking liquor from their mouths. From the rivers La Plata
and Lima, or Rimac, inclusively to the southwards, there are no crocodiles,
lizards, snakes, or other venomous reptiles; but the rivers produce great
store of excellent fish. On the coast of St Michael on the South Sea,
there are many rocks of salt, covered with eggs. At the point of St Helena,
there are springs from which a liquor flows, that serves instead of pitch
and tar. It is said that there is a fountain in Chili which converts wood
into stone. In the haven of Truxillo, there is a lake of fresh water, the
bottom of which is good hard salt; and in the Andes, beyond Xauxa, there
is a fresh water river which flows over a bottom of white salt. It is also
affirmed that there formerly dwelt giants in Peru, of whom statues were
found at Porto Vejo; and that their jaw bones were found in the haven of
Truxillo, having teeth three or four fingers long.
In the year 1540, the viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoca, sent Ferdinando
Alorchon with two ships, to explore the bottom of the gulph of California,
and divers other countries. In the same year, Gonsalvo Pizarro went from
Quito to discover the _Cinnamon_ country, of which there ran a great fame
in Peru. Taking with him a force of 200 Spaniards, partly horse and part
foot, with 300 Indians to carry the baggage, he marched to _Guixos_, the
most distant place or frontier of the empire of the Incas; in which place
there happened a great earthquake, accompanied with much rain and dreadful
lightning, by which seventy houses were swallowed up. From that place they
passed over a chain of cold and snowy mountains, where they found many
Indians frozen to death, and they wondered much at finding so much snow
immediately under the equinoctial line. From thence they proceeded to a
province called _Cumaco_, where they were detained two months on account
of constant rain; and beyond this, they came to the cinnamon trees, which
are of great size, with leaves resembling those of the bay tree.
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