Fifty Leagues To The
Southward, And About Fifteen Leagues From The Coast, Is The City Of San
Miguel, Named _Piuru_ By The Indians, In A Pleasant And Fruitful Country,
But Which Has No Mines Of Gold Or Silver.
Most people who have occasion to
go there are liable to be afflicted with diseases of the eyes.
Sixty
leagues farther along the coast, is the city of Truxillo, two leagues from
the sea, in the valley of Chimo, having a dangerous harbour of difficult
approach. This city stands on the banks of a river in a fine plain, which
is fertile in wheat and maize, and breeds great abundance of cattle,
having plenty of excellent water. Truxillo is very regularly built, and is
inhabited by about three hundred Spanish families. About eighty leagues
from Truxillo to the south, and in the valley of _Rimac_, stands the city
of _Los Reys_, or Lima, because it was founded at Epiphany, vulgarly
called the day of the kings. This city is about two leagues from the
harbour of _Callao_, an excellent and secure harbour, and is situated on a
large river in a fine plain, abounding in grain, and in all kinds of fruit
and cattle. All the streets are perfectly straight, and all of them lead
towards the country, which may be seen from all parts of the city. This is
a most agreeable residence, as the air is always temperate, being never
either too hot or too cold at any season of the year. During the four
months which constitute the summer in Spain, the air here is somewhat
cooler than for the rest of the year; and every day from sun-rise to noon
there falls a light dew, somewhat like the mists at Valladolid in Old
Spain. Far from being injurious to health, this slight moisture is
reckoned an infallible cure for headaches. This part of the country
produces the same kinds of fruit as are found in Spain, particularly
oranges, citrons, and lemons of all kinds, both sweet and sour, with figs
and pomegranates. It might assuredly have produced grapes in great
abundance, if the discords which have prevailed in this country had
allowed the colonists to plant and cultivate the vine; as it already has
several thriving vine plants which have grown from the pips of dried
raisins. The neighbouring country produces all kinds of pot herbs and
garden vegetables usually cultivated in Spain, in great perfection and
abundance. Indeed every thing conspires to assist cultivation at this
place, as every plantation has a canal from the river sufficiently large
for a mill-stream; and on the main river, the Spaniards have several
corn-mills. This city is universally reckoned the most salubrious and most
agreeable residence in all Peru; and its harbour is so convenient for
trade, that people come here from all parts of Peru to provide themselves
with necessaries of all kinds, bringing with them the gold and silver
which is so abundantly procured from the mines of the other provinces. For
these reasons, and because it is nearly central to Peru, it has been
chosen by his majesty for the residence of the royal court of audience, to
which the inhabitants of all Peru have to carry their law-suits, by which
means it is to be presumed that this place will in time become more
considerable and very populous. Lima at present, 1550, contains five
hundred houses; yet is larger than any city in Spain of fifteen hundred
houses, as the square in the centre of the town is very large, and all the
streets very wide, and because each house has a plot of eighty feet in
front by twice that in depth. The houses likewise are all of one storey,
as the country has no wood fit for joists or flooring-deals, every kind
which it produces becoming worm-eaten in three years. The houses, however,
are large and magnificent, and have many chambers and very convenient
apartments. The walls are built on both sides of brick, leaving a hollow
between of five feet, which is filled up with hard-rammed earth; in which
manner the apartments are carried up to a convenient height, and the
windows towards the street are raised considerably above the ground. The
stairs leading up are towards the interior court, and in the open air,
leading to galleries or corridors, which serve as passages to the several
apartments. The roofs are formed of some rough timbers, not even hewn
square, which are covered underneath by coloured matts like those of
Almeria, or painted canvas, serving as ceilings, to conceal these clumsy
joists: and the whole is covered over by way of roofing with branches of
trees with their leaves, which keep the rooms cool and effectually exclude
the rays of the sun. In this climate there is no call for any defence from
rain, which never falls in the plain of Peru.
One hundred and thirty leagues still farther south, is the city of
Villahermosa de Arequipa, containing about three hundred houses, in a very
healthy situation, abounding in provisions. Though at twelve leagues
distance from the sea, this place is very conveniently situated for trade,
as vessels can easily import thither by the river Quilca all sorts of
European commodities for the supply of the city of Cuzco and the province
of Charcas, which are much frequented on account of the mines of Potosi
and Porco; and from whence large quantities of silver are carried to
Arequipa, to be transported by sea to Lima and Panama, which saves a vast
expence and risk of land-carriage; now become more difficult since his
majesty has forbidden those heavy burdens upon the Indians by which they
were formerly oppressed. From this city we travel four hundred leagues by
land along the coast of the South Sea to the province of Chili, which was
discovered and in part colonized by the governor Pedro de Valdibia, or
Baldivia. In the language of the Indians the word _Chili_ signifies cold;
and it was so named by the Peruvians because of the terribly cold
mountains which were necessary to be passed on the way thither from Peru,
as will be particularly mentioned when we come to detail the perilous
enterprize undertaken by Don Diego de Almagro when he marched to discover
that distant country.
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