WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 6oi 



pampa, Pillcupata, Abisca and Tuno, where they raise and gather 

 the best and most highly vakied coca in the Andes. To reach these 

 and other villages one goes down a 5-league grade which is terrifying 

 to look at ; the road zigzags down it like a spiral, now going one 

 way, now the other, which is the only method possible. His Majesty 

 appoints a Corregidor for these Andes in consultation with His 

 Royal Council, for its wise administration and for the dispensing 

 of justice. All this country is abundantly supplied with meat, fish, 

 and fruit. The trees which produce coca are very handsome and 

 well shaped, with leaves almost like myrtle leaves ; they grow leaves 

 the whole year through ; in drying them they try to have the dry 

 leaf keep a deep green color, for that is much the better and brings 

 a higher price. They make up baskets of them, like those along the 

 river at Seville in which they carry apples, plums, and other fruit ; 

 they load them on llamas to be freighted to Potosi, Oruro, and other 

 points, where they sell them to the merchants and traders for the 

 Indians, and make large profits. 



1607. The Yucay Valley is 4 leagues ENE. of Cuzco — a delightful 

 spot with sweet, fresh breezes and delicious soft water ; it has a 

 uniform climate, neither cold nor hot ; there are no mosquitoes, flies, 

 or other annoying creatures. It lies between two sierras ; on the E, 

 it has the Sierra Nevada, or Cordillera, which crosses or runs through 

 all that Kingdom ; from its melting snows and the springs on its 

 flanks flow streams of crystal-clear water, with which they irrigate 

 the valley's farms. They raise quantities of corn, wheat, and other 

 cereals ; they have fine large sugar plantations and mills in which 

 they make quantities of excellent white sugar; there are many gar- 

 dens and orchards with all kinds of Spanish and native fruit, and they 

 raise very good vegetables. They have excellent vineyards, from 

 halfway down the sierra, which has large groves and forests, and 

 on the slopes near the valley, excellent pasturage, on which much 

 cattle graze; there are deer (ciervos), guanacos, and other wild 

 animals. The other sierra bounds the valley to the W. ; next it runs 

 the large Rio de Yucay, with gentle current ; it has abundance of 

 fish, and there are many egrets. This valley brings health and joy 

 to Cuzco residents ; many of them have country places there, and 

 invalids go there to recuperate and convalesce. In the days of the 

 Incas it was their garden and Paradise ; they had sumptuous build- 

 ings there, and it was their Aranjuez for their pleasures and recrea- 

 tion. In fine, I would say that this valley is a bit of Paradise, and 

 any exaggeration of its praise would fall short of the reality. The 



