514 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 102 



days. This valley is [all] full of farms with fields of wheat, corn, 

 and pimentos ; they all yield abundantly, for the land is very fertile. 

 [And] the valley, although it contains few Spaniards, is very rich, 

 because of the high price and great demand for the products [of this 

 region.] There is another village higher up, toward the sierra. The 

 curate of this valley says two Masses every feast day. The Spaniards 

 in this valley live remote from one another, according to the location 

 of their farms ; no vineyards or olive groves grow here because their 

 water passes over alum and sulfur deposits ; were it not for this 

 character of the water, the valley would be much richer, with vine- 

 yard establishments, for the land itself is good [but they cannot raise 

 them with this water]. There is only one vineyard; that is excellent; 

 it brings in over 20,000 pesos every year to its owner, on account 

 of the high price and great demand for wine in that country. This 

 vineyard was planted by Capt. Garcia de Castro at a spot in this 

 valley where there is a well [which they call puquio there] of sweet 

 water, and they irrigate the vineyard from it, and all sorts of Spanish 

 and native fruit trees ; certainly that spot is a bit of Paradise ; his 

 heirs have the enjoyment of it today. Along the whole seacoast in 

 this region there are excellent lomas like those already described ; 

 there are [many] olive groves and oil presses and much cattle on 

 them, and the muleteers for the traffic from Arica to Potosi take 

 their mules down here at the proper season. [And I would note that 

 in these valleys and the others from Camana on, the wheat and corn 

 is manured (guano'd), and they usually harvest 500-fold.] 



Chapter LV [56] (57) 



Of the Valleys of Sama, Tacna, Lluta, and Others, etc. 



1412. From this Locumba Valley it is 5 leagues S. to that of Sama. 

 [All these rivers and valleys of the Peruvian plains run from E. 

 to W.] This is an extensive valley with many Spanish residents, 

 almost all of them wealthy and important. Although there is plenty 

 of water here, it [runs over] alum [beds], and so they have no 

 vineyards or olive groves, but they raise large amounts of wheat 

 and corn ; and although the land itself is so rich and the conditions 

 so favorable, when they manure the corn they have raised 1,000 

 fanegas from a single one. In this and the last valley they raise 

 quantities of pimento, which they call aji here ; in the two they har- 

 vest about 200,000 baskets [of aji] which are carried on llamaback 

 to Potosi, Oruro, and all the sierra country, and bring in great wealth. 

 In this valley there are more than 50 Spanish residents living on 

 their farms. From here to the city of Arica it is 12 leagues. 



