WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 397 



first temple in that kingdom. Consequently, God has honored it; 

 for though it has not grown like others in those kingdoms, it has 

 taken the first fruits from them, for the whole Kingdom of Peru has 

 taken its name and title from Piura. 



1175. The city will have a little over lOo Spanish residents, not 

 counting the service contingent. It has a parish church, a Mercedarian 

 convent and a hospital for the sick. There is a Corregidor, appointed 

 by the Council, with Officials of the Royal Patrimony. The city was 

 founded at Tangarara, but that was an unhealthy spot so they dis- 

 mantled it and moved it to where it is today, between two valleys, in 

 what is naturally a sandy desert. To the S., Trujillo is 90 leagues 

 away ; to the N., Quito is 140 leagues and Loja and Zaruma, 60 in the 

 same direction. One league from the city is the very attractive village 

 of Catacaos, where they grow excellent melons, with other kinds of 

 fruit and vegetables. All the Indians in this village are muleteers, 

 like the Olmos [and very good Indians]. Twelve leagues WNW. of 

 the city is the famous port of Paita, [where the Corregidor appoints 

 a representative], which is at 5° S. This harbor is [very] good and 

 deep, and the goal of all the ships coming from Panama, Nicaragua, 

 and New Spain, and point of departure of those going from Peru 

 to the Spanish Main. [This port is good, commodious, and safe]. 

 The Indians are great fishermen, and so there is usually plenty of 

 fresh fish here, [many] jars of tunny made of swordfish, as good 

 and delicate as what we have in Spain, and of lisas (loaches?) and 

 other fish and many toUos (spotted dogfish), with which they furnish 

 fish to all the interior. It is a remarkable fact that there is no fresh 

 water at this port, for there is no river or valley there, and it never 

 rains ; so they go to Colan, a village a league NW. of the harbor 

 and on the Rio de Colan, and bring the water back on floats [in 

 quantities of jugs] [for the village of] Paita. A few Spaniards live 

 with the Indians here ; the village is built on a sandbank, the houses 

 are only a few bamboo poles stuck in the sand and at the best plastered 

 with a little mud on the outside — what they call bajareques — and 

 for roof some matting or a little dried dung. So the Spaniards who 

 come from Spain and have pictured in their imagination the riches 

 of that realm, where their fancy has paved the streets with bars of 

 silver and with silver reals, and they are eager to get to Peru and 

 see it, for with their burning desire to enrich themselves, they have 

 no other idea in their minds but wealth — when they reach this harbor 

 and see the tumble-down houses, their disappointment is immense, 

 and grows as they note the barren sandbanks and dunes ; to all 

 appearance their anticipations are altogether unfounded. A thoughtful 



