The Lord Of This Island Was Much
Feared And Respected By His Subjects, And So Extremely Jealous Of His
Women, That Those Who Had The Care Of Them Were Not Only Eunuchs, But Had
Their Noses Cut Off.
In a small island near Puna, there was found in a
house the representation of a garden, having the figures of various trees
and plants artificially made of gold and silver.
Opposite to the island of Puna on the main land, there dwelt a nation or
tribe which had given so much offence to the king of Peru, that they were
obliged as a punishment to extirpate all their upper teeth; in consequence
of which, even now, the people of that district have no teeth in their
upper jaws. From Tumbez for five hundred leagues to the south along the
coast of the south sea, and for ten leagues in breadth, more or less
according to the distance between the sea and the mountains, it never
rains or thunders. But on the mountains which bound that maritime plain,
there are both rain and thunder, and the climate has the vicissitudes of
summer and winter nearly as in Spain. While it is winter in the mountain,
it is summer all along the coast; and on the contrary, during the summer
on the mountain the coast has what may be termed winter. The length of
Peru, from the city of _St Juan de Parto_ to the province of Chili lately
discovered, is above 1800[19] leagues of Castille.
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