Lettuces, Cabbages, And All Other Vegetables
Grow With Similar Luxuriance:
But the seeds of these must all be brought
from Spain; as when raised in the country the produce is by no means so
large and fine.
The principal food of the Indians is maize, either roasted
or boiled, which serves them for bread, and venison of various kinds,
which they salt up for use. They likewise use dried fish, and several
kinds of roots, one of which named _yuca_ resembles skirret; likewise
lupines and many other leguminous vegetables. Instead of wine, they make a
fermented liquor from maize, which they bury in the earth along with water
in tubs or large jars, where it ferments. In this process, besides the
maize in its natural state, a certain quantity of maize which has been
steeped in a particular manner is used as a ferment; and there are men and
women who are versant in the manner of steeping maize, and are hired for
this purpose. When this kind of drink is made by means of stagnant water,
it is reckoned stronger and better than when running water is used. In the
West Indian islands this drink is called _chica_, but the Peruvian name is
_azua_. It is either white or red, according to the kind of maize used for
its preparation, and inebriates even more readily than Spanish wine; yet
the Indians prefer the latter when it can be procured. They make another
kind of liquor from the fruit of certain trees, which they call _molles_;
but it is by no means so well liked as _azua_ from maize.
The first city of the Christians in the mountain of Peru is _Quito_, which
is about four degrees to the south of the equator[22]. This city is
situated in an agreeable and fertile district; and particularly since 1544
and 1545, when rich mines of gold were discovered in its neighbourhood, it
has become populous, and continued to increase fast in the number of its
inhabitants; till in the destructive civil wars its people were almost
entirely cut off by Gonzalo Pizarro and his adherents, as they favoured
the party of the viceroy Blasco Nugnez Vela, who made this place his
ordinary residence. The Spaniards had no other establishment in the
mountain till the discovery of the province of _Bracamoras_[23], by the
captains, Juan Porcel and Vergara, who established some small colonies in
these parts, on purpose to continue the discovery and conquest of the
interior country; but these establishments have been since entirely ruined,
as Gonzalo Pizarro recalled these two captains and their men to assist him
in his war. This discovery was made under the orders of the licentiate
Vaca de Castro, who was then governor of Peru. The Captain Porcel was sent
by him from S. Miguel de Piura, and Vergara into the province of
_Chachapoyas_ farther to the south; but they unexpectedly met each other
in the course of their exploration of the country, and quarrelled about
the boundaries of their discoveries, in consequence of which they were
recalled by Vaco de Castro, and were at Lima at the commencement of the
civil war in the service of the viceroy; and when he was made prisoner
they entered into the party of Gonzalo Pizarro.
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