WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES— VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 633 



In this town they consume: in sheep, each selling at 12 reals there; 

 cattle, of which great numbers are brought up from the provinces 

 of Tucuman, Paraguay, and Buenos Ayres ; swine ; and many llamas, 

 which are the commonest article of food among the Indians ; for 

 more than 800,000 ducats annually. 



This makes no account of the sugar, preserves, fresh fish caught 

 in the nearby rivers, and dried fish, some of which is brought from 

 Arica and large amounts from Atacama, Tarapaca, and other points ; 

 there is large consumption of all these, as of everything else in this 

 Babylon. 



Chapter XIV 



Of the Churches, Convents, Curacies, and Hospitals in the Im- 

 perial Town of Potosi. 



1666. The parish church of this imperial town is very rich and 

 well served ; it has three curates and one vicar, and two sacristan 

 priests, who serve in place of another curate ; these are for the 

 Spaniards. There are also over 60 clerics here without benefices ; 

 they live on the pittance given them for saying Mass, at 2 reals, 

 at 8 to a peso, each, which is the ordinary fee given there ; and they 

 are not equal to the demand. The church has many very rich chapels 

 and Confraternities, a large corps of musicians, a very rich sacristy 

 with remarkable and expensive decorations. It has many lamps, and 

 among them one worth more than 30,000 pesos ; the monstrance used 

 for the day and octave of the Corpus is worth over 50,000 ; and 

 there are many other very rich and valuable articles which enhance 

 its magnificence, but which I pass over in order to treat other topics. 



It has five splendid wealthy convents, Dominican, Franciscan, 

 Augustinian, Mercedarian, and Jesuit, which last is a very rich and 

 important foundation. With the parish church there are 16 parishes 

 or curacies, thus arranged : 12 for clerics, each worth from 6,000 

 at the peak to 5,000 and 4,000 at the lowest ; these are curates or 

 dotrineros of Indians, and each curate in his dotrina has his assistant, 

 and some more than one. The clerics' dotrinas are: San Martin, 

 San Juan, San Pablo, San Sebastian, Santa Barbara, Copacabana, 

 Santiago, San Benito, Los Carangas (which is one of the richest), 

 San Bernardo ; they are installing another at the mill of Don Pedro 

 de Ulloa. There are two under the care of Dominican friars — San 

 Pedro and San Francisco ; two others are catechized by Mercedarians ; 

 these are La Concepcion, which is also one of the richest, and San 

 Cristobal. These are the curacies in the imperial town of Potosi. 



