5l6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 102 



suffice, and we shall pass on to the description of the city of Arica 

 and its valley and district. 



Chapter LVI [57] (58) 



Of the City of San Marcos de Arica, Its Situation and Other 

 Features of the Country. 



. 1415. The city of San Marcos de Arica is built on the Pacific 

 coast by the water's edge, 210 leagues from the city of Lima at 

 i9°2o' S. It is a modern foundation ; Gen. Don Ordofio de Aguirre 

 established it in the year 1600 on a pestilential and unhealthy site. 

 It was under the shadow and shelter of a high headland or bluff at 

 the water's edge, and enormous numbers of sea birds keep dying 

 there ; they are innumerable on this coast, and much fish and many 

 seals die there too ; and as the climate is hot, they decay at once 

 before the vultures eat them up, and poison the air passing along the 

 bluff and then through the city, so that the site is unhealthy. If they 

 had only settled a musketshot away from where it is, on the other 

 side of the Chimba or watercourse on a broad plain, to the left of 

 where the shrine of Santa Lucia stands, it would be one of the largest, 

 best, and most comfortable cities of all that Kingdom ; the site is 

 extensive and level, high above the sea ; boring down only a stade, 

 one can find water and dig wells, which would enable them to main- 

 tain excellent orchards and gardens ; and they would likewise be free 

 from the earthquake shocks which usually prevail in that region. 

 The present site of the city is not only unhealthy but leaves no room 

 for expansion. The city will contain 100 Spanish residents, plus 

 numbers of Negroes and Yanaconas occupied both in service in the 

 city and on the farms which the residents own up the valley ; there 

 are also many transients arriving and departing by sea and land. 

 It is a place with lively trade, a harbor, and a stopping place for all 

 the upland country ; many ships put in with cargoes of Spanish mer- 

 chandise, Huancavelica quicksilver and wine from the valleys ; and 

 it is here that they bring and load the silver which comes from Potosi, 

 Oruro, Porco, Berenguela. Lipas, Chichas, and all the upland country, 

 and the Pacific fleet comes [here] to take it to Lima; and all the 

 ships coming up from the Kingdom of Chile stop off [here] for it 

 is a good safe harbor. There is a fort [here] at the water's edge 

 with four small pieces of artillery and a few stone-mortars. It would 

 be wise for His Majesty to put more artillery here for the protection 

 of that city and port, for it is the first in the Kingdom of Peru as 

 one comes up from the Straits, and it is of the utmost importance 



