406 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 102 



of animals and birds and fruit [both of the varieties mentioned and 

 another which has not been discussed and which grows nowhere else 

 nor is it known except in the district of this city ; it is the queen of 

 all fruit in delicious flavor and sweetness] and the Chachapoyas 

 almonds, so famous and highly esteemed in all the Kingdom of Peru. 

 These almonds are larger and with bigger kernels than our Spanish 

 ones ; they are very tender to eat, very meaty, juicy, and sweet. The 

 trees which produce them are very tall, well-shaped, and with thick 

 foliage ; and Nature makes this sweet and delicious nut all the more 

 appreciated by enclosing it in a burr larger and with sharper spines 

 than chestnut burrs ; when it is ripe the burr opens and the almond 

 falls ; it has other protection inside. There are other remarkable 

 [products and] things, and particularly a bird whose song sounds 

 like an organ, with a great volume of sweet and melodious music, 

 though it is a tiny creature. [And it has other songs, and there are 

 other unique features which I omit mentioning, in order to write 

 briefly what remains to be said about the other Corregimientos. 

 In all of them they gather much cotton.] 



1194. Five leagues from Chachapoyas is the Indian village of 

 Luya; it has a cold climate; all its houses are the shape of a half 

 orange. This village is the capital of the Corregimiento of the 

 Province of Los Chillaos, in which the Viceroy appoints a Corregidor 

 for the administration of this region ; it is very fertile and abounds 

 in corn, potatoes, and other products and root crops ; it has many 

 cattle ranches and some of llamas, mule ranches, and the best stock 

 ranches in the whole Kingdom of Peru, for the Luyan horses have 

 a high reputation everywhere, notably the Castarrica horses of Juan 

 de Pinedo, among them the finest horses in that kingdom [which 

 have been taken to Lima for the Viceroys and other persons of 

 eminence.] 



1195. In the Province of Los Chillaos there is a rock on which 

 are sculptured and engraved some representations of human feet, 

 [and they are] held in great veneration by the Indians of this province, 

 for they preserve a tradition handed down from one of their ances- 

 tors to another from time immemorial, that an Apostle passed through 

 there preaching to them and teaching them a law which should take 

 them to Heaven. Many friars and other ecclesiastics and Spanish 

 laymen who have seen them, have formed and maintained the opinion 

 that they belonged to the Glorious Apostle St. Thomas who went 

 through there preaching to them, and as a record of the fact that 

 what he preached to them was true, he left the soles of his sainted 

 feet sculptured and engraved ; they support this by stating that if 



