480 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 102 



if he is of a good tribe and well built. (Marg. : There will be in 

 this valley 10,000 Negroes for the care of the vineyards.) Three 

 leagues beyond this district is another, on the same side of the river, 

 where they produce over 50,000 jugs of wine ; and on the other side, 

 not much beyond the upper Condor district, is that of Chunchanga, 

 5 leagues upstream from Pisco, where there is a village composed 

 of Spaniards, Negroes, and Indians ; in this district they produce 

 over 100,000 jugs of wine [and it is to be remarked that in all this 

 country it does not rain] ; it is all irrigated. Two leagues beyond 

 this district up the river is another, called Umay, [very] fertile and 

 prolific; here they produce much wine on both sides [of the river], 

 and they dry figs in such quantities that a quintal sells for only 16 

 reals. Four leagues beyond Umay is the fine fertile valley of La 

 Quinga, which is in the Chaupiyunga, which means land of the best 

 climate, between hot and cold. Here they gather more than i,ooo 

 quintals of figs, [among] the best and most highly esteemed in that 

 kingdom, for while a quintal of other figs sells for 16 reals, these 

 are worth 50 the quintal. Besides all this, they raise much corn, wheat, 

 and other cereals in abundance in this valley, which makes the [very 

 fertile] region rich and prosperous. There is likewise a tradition 

 that the Spaniards planned to build the city of Los Reyes in this 

 valley near Umay, after they had abandoned Jauja, and they did 

 establish themselves here for a few days before continuing to where 

 Lima is at present ; I have seen the site and the buildings, and some 

 of them were still standing. 



Chapter XXXIX (42) 



Of the Villacuri Sinks (Depressions) and Others in the District, 



1350. Besides the vineyard districts above described, planted beside 

 this large river, they take much excellent fish and crayfish from it, 

 and have built extensive irrigation canals to water their vineyards 

 and fields ; these are most abundant and prolific in their yield, to 

 such a degree that one of these stocks or vines produces more grapes 

 than six of those in Spain ; and the higher and stronger the vines 

 grow, the more prolific this land of promise seems in every respect. 



1351. There are other varieties of vineyards very different from 

 these just described, 2 leagues from Pisco. Here they produce more 

 than 5,000 jugs of wine in the sinks or depressions where there is no 

 stream and it does not rain, nor has rained nor will rain — the well- 

 known peculiarity of that country ; but the fact is that among those 

 broad, parched, sandy deserts there are [some] sinks and depressions 

 whose freshness moistens the sand in them ; they have planted grape- 



