On the borders of these rivers there are various kinds of fruit-trees, cotton-trees, willows, and many kinds of canes, reeds, and sedges. The watered land is extremely fertile, and is kept under continual cultivation; wheat and maize being sown and reaped all the year through. The Indians in the plain seldom have any houses, or at best a kind of rude huts or cabins made of branches of trees, often dwelling under the shade of trees, without any habitation whatever. The women are habited in long dresses of cotton which descend to their feet; while the men wear breeches and vests which come down to their knees, and have a kind of cloak or mantle thrown over their shoulders. They are all dressed in a similar manner, having no distinctions except in their head-dresses, according to rank or the different districts of the country; some wearing a tuft of wool, others a single cord, and others several cords of different colours. All the Indians of the plain are distributed into three orders; the first named Yungas, the second Tallanes, and the third Mochicas. Every province has its own peculiar language or dialect, different from all the rest. But all the caciques or principal people and nobles of the country, besides the language peculiar to their respective countries or districts, were obliged to understand and speak the language of Cuzco. One of the Peruvian kings, named Huana Capac, the father of Atahualpa or Atabalipa, was much displeased that the caciques and principal people of his empire should be under the necessity of employing interpreters when they had occasion to speak to him; and gave orders that all the caciques and their relatives should send their children to reside at court, to be instructed in the language of Cuzco which was spoken by the Incas. This was the ostensible reason of the measure; but in reality he wished to have these children in his power, to serve as hostages for the loyalty of their parents. By this means, all the nobles of the land came to understand the peculiar language of Cuzco which was spoken at court; just as in Flanders all the nobles and persons of any rank speak French. Owing to this circumstance, as the Spaniards have learnt the language of the Incas, or of Cuzco, they are able to converse with all the principal natives of Peru, both those of the mountain and of the plain.
It may appear difficult to some of my readers to comprehend why no rain should fall in the plain of Peru, considering that the country is bounded along the whole of one side by the sea, where many vapours are constantly ascending, and on the other side by a vast range of mountain which is always enveloped in rain or snow. Those who have carefully considered this singular phenomenon, allege that it is occasioned by the continual prevalence of a strong south-west wind all along the coast and over the whole plain of Peru, which carries off all the vapours which rise from the sea and the land, without allowing them to rise sufficiently high in the air to gather and fall down again in rain. From the tops of the high mountains, these vapours are often seen far beneath on the plain in thick clouds, while all is quite clear and serene on the mountain. By the perpetual blowing of the same wind, the waters of the South-sea have a constant current along the coast to the northward. Others allege a different reason for this current; saying, that the water of the South-sea having only a narrow outlet at the straits of Magellan, which are only two leagues broad, and being there opposed by the Atlantic Ocean, they are forced to return to the northward along the coast of Chili and Peru. This constant wind and current render the navigation exceedingly difficult, from Panama to Peru for the greater part of the year; so that vessels are obliged always to tack to windward against wind and current.
The whole coast of Peru abounds in fish of various kinds, among which are great quantities of sea-calves or seals, of several species. Beyond the river of Tumbez there are no caymans or alligators, which is supposed to be owing to the too great coolness of the sea and rivers, as these animals delight in heat; but it is more probable that their absence from the rivers of Peru is occasioned by their great rapidity, as they usually frequent rivers that are very still. In the whole extent of the plain there are only five cities inhabited by the Christians126. The first of these, Puerto Viejo, about one degree south of the line, has very few inhabitants, as it stands in a poor and unwholesome country, in which the principal production of value is a few emeralds. 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.
126
This is only to be understood of the period when Zarate wrote, about the middle of the sixteenth century, or two hundred and fifty years ago. The first town he enumerates, Puerto Viejo, is now in the viceroyalty of New Granada. –E.