482 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



who had gone in their pursuit, Capt. Lope Martin and three other 

 soldiers, in the year 15 (sic). Excellent vineyards flourish in these 

 sinks also, although it does not rain in this region and there is no 

 way of irrigating [vineyards] them, the Rio de Pisco being 5 leagues 

 away from them, and the Rio de lea over 6 ; but by treating the soil 

 in the same way as in the others, they produce more than 4,000 jugs 

 of the best wine grown in the whole kingdom. 



1353. The town of lea is 12 leagues S. of Pisco and 48 from Lima, 

 at i3°3o' S., 9 leagues from the sea, on which it has its port of 

 Morro Quemado, from which the bulk of its wine is exported to 

 Lima and Arica, although some is freighted to Pisco for shipment. 



The town was founded by (Marg. : N,B. : Valverde) 



on a sandy plain beside a small stream, whose crystal-clear waters 

 make the place one of the best irrigated in the Kingdom and keep 

 its valleys moist and well fertilized. It rises in the sierra. Province 

 of Los Chocorvos in the Diocese of Guamanga, at its eastern frontier 

 point ; its waters come dashing down full of delicious fish and cray- 

 fish. The town has an attractive and pleasant location ; its skies are 

 clear and bracing, and the land ranks high for fertility among all 

 I saw in the Indies ; everything that is planted yields in great abun- 

 dance the whole year long ; the river water is very soft and whole- 

 some. The town is built on its N. bank ; it has over 200 Spanish 

 residents, plus 8,000 or 10,000 Negroes whom they have for the 

 care of the vineyards, and many Indians, both from outside (whom 

 they call Yanaconas) and from two villages near the town, those 

 of Lurin and Hanan, whose religious instruction is in the hands 

 of the Franciscans. There is an excellent parish church with two 

 curates and a vicar, and [very good] Franciscan, Augustinian, and 

 Mercedarian convents, with other good churches and a hospital where 

 they treat the indigent sick. 



1354. They produce more than 400,000 jugs of wine in its valleys. 

 Adjoining the town and running N. and S. is the vineyard region 

 or valley of Garganto, where they make large amounts of wine ; it 

 has many vineyards or chacras, as they call them there. On the other 

 side of the river to the E. is the extensive Chirana Valley with large 

 establishments, each with a farmhouse and a winery where they pre- 

 pare the wines. A league S. of the town, in the midst of large groves 

 of guaranga trees, is the valley or vineyard district of lea la Vieja ; 

 and 2 leagues S. there is another valley, small in comparison with 

 the above, which is called Santa Lucia. ENE. of the town, toward 

 the Sierra, lie the valleys of San Martin, [of Valrica] and others 

 nearby, which I will not enumerate, to avoid being too prolix. In 



