In That Part Of The Vale, Which Is Very Narrow, And
About Six Leagues Long, They Raise Yearly To The Value Of Above 80,000
Crowns.
The Spaniards of Peru are so much addicted to this spice, that
they dress no meat without it, although
So hot and biting that no one
can endure it, unless accustomed to its use; and, as it cannot grow in
the Puna, or mountainous country, many merchants come down every year,
who carry away all the Guinea pepper that grows in the districts of
Arica, Sama, Taena, Locumba, and others, ten leagues around, from all
of which it is reckoned they export yearly to the value of 600,000
dollars, though sold cheap. It is hard to credit that such vast
quantities should go from hence, as the country is so parched up, except
the vales, that nothing green is to be seen. This wonderful fertility is
produced by the dung of fowls, which is brought from Iquique, and
which fertilizes the soil in a wonderful manner, making it produce four
or five hundred for one of all sorts of grain, as wheat, maize, and so
forth, but particularly of this agi, or Guinea pepper, when rightly
managed. When the plants are sufficiently grown in the seed-bed to be
fit for transplanting, they are set out in winding lines like the letter
S, that the furrows for conveying the water may distribute it equally to
the roots of the plants. They then lay about the root of each plant of
Guinea pepper as much guana, or bird's dung formerly mentioned, as
will lie in the hollow of the hand.
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