WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES — VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 477 



which comes down from Yauyos Province. All their products are 

 exported on ships and frigates to Lima. 



1342. The town of Canete has loo Spanish residents, with a parish 

 church, a Franciscan convent and a hospital. Most of the residents 

 of this town are farmers. In this whole valley there are numerous 

 ruins of ancient structures, especially along the river bank, where 

 the buildings demonstrate what a large population there was in those 

 days, as do the irrigation canals which they constructed to water 

 their crops. There are some cattle ranches in this valley, for it is 

 prolific and ample for every purpose. The Viceroy appoints a 

 Corregidor for this town, who holds attribution also for Chincha, 

 [which is 9 leagues S. of the town of Canete]. 



1343. The splendid Chincha Valley is in i3°2o' S., 31 leagues 

 from Lima. It was formerly [in the days of its heathendom] one 

 of the largest and most thickly settled in the whole Kingdom of Peru. 

 Its valley is one of the loveliest in all the plains country, but it is 

 [somewhat] short of water. The village of Chincha is built on the 

 N. bank of the river. It will contain 500 Indians ; there is a Domini- 

 can convent there, which governs them and teaches them Christian 

 doctrine. The Spaniards number about 100, with a curate, appointed 

 by the Archbishop when I was in that Kingdom in the year 161 7, 

 to administer the Holy Sacraments to them. There is a storehouse 

 [in this village of Chincha or rather, in its valley] there for the 

 quicksilver which they bring down from Huancavelica, and a Factor 

 appointed by the Royal Council who has charge of shipping and 

 exporting it to the port of San Marcos de Arica for the mines of 

 Potosi, Oruro, Berenguela, Porco, Lipez, and the others in the 

 upland country. This Chincha Valley was formerly thickly settled 

 and contained countless Indians, as is demonstrated by the great 

 ruins of ancient buildings still existing there, and by the accounts of 

 the historians, for they were rivals of the Inca kings of Peru. There 

 are [very] sumptuous guacas here, and so many buildings that it 

 distresses one to see such greatness fallen — as it happened to Xerxes, 

 when he went up to the summit of a lofty mountain and looked 

 down and reflected on the huge multitude he had in his army; he 

 burst into tears ; and when one of his courtiers asked him "Why do 

 you mourn?", he answered "Because 100 years from now not a 

 single one of those whom you see here, will be alive." One has the 

 same feeling in contemplating so many vast ruins, not only in this 

 lovely valley but in them all in Peru ; when I went through them, 

 I was often deeply moved at beholding such grandeur now altogether 



