642 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 102 



salary ; those in Misque and Ayquile get 500 ; the curate of Pocona, 

 800. The first Bishop was Don Antonio Calderon, who had been 

 Bishop of Panama. 



At 4 and 5 leagues from this town are the springs which give 

 rise to two rivers called Rio de Vivehama and Rio Tintin ; on these 

 there are four gristmills with two millstones each. These two rivers 

 run independently for some distance and unite near the town ; they 

 then cut through the Cordillera and empty into the great Rio de 

 la Plata. 



1681. It contains over 200 Spanish residents and more than 500 

 Indians, not counting many other persons scattered through the 

 valley and living on their ranches and farms. The Viceroy appoints 

 a Corregidor for all this valley and that of Pocona, which adjoins 

 that of Cliza in the Corregimiento of Cochabamba, for their good 

 administration and the dispensing of justice. It contains prolific 

 vineyards which produce over 100,000 jugs of wine ; great amounts 

 of wheat, corn, and other cereals are grown and shipped to the 

 imperial town of Potosi. They have large cattle, sheep, and llama 

 ranches ; and since it has a marvelous and delightful climate with 

 excellent water, fresh breezes and bright skies, this town and valley 

 are the usual residence of the Bishop of Santa Fe de la Sierra, it 

 being in his jurisdiction ; he is sufifragan to the Charcas. 



1682. Nine leagues from the valley and town of Misque is the 

 Pocona Valley, adjoining that of Cliza in the ditsrict of Cochabamba. 

 This Pocona Valley contains in its villages and district more than 

 1. 000 Indians, and many Spaniards. It has excellent vineyards pro- 

 ducing much wine, and quantities of wheat, corn, aji, and other 

 cereals, which are taken up to Potosi. They raise large amounts of 

 excellent Spanish and native fruit in the valley and much garden 

 truck ; there are large cattle, llama, and sheep ranches, and throughout 

 the valley many farms and ranches occupied by Spaniards. Toward 

 Los Yungas, which is hot country where they raise and pick the 

 Indians' precious coca, there are very rich silver and gold mines, 

 for this whole mountain region is paved with rich veins of those 

 metals. It was in this Pocona Valley that the first pioneers and 

 explorers of Tucuman and Rio de la Plata joined forces ; their head 

 was Nicolas de Heredia ; they were returning to Peru with Lope 

 de Mendoza, Militia Captain of Diego Centeno, when he was fleeing 

 from the rebellious violence of Francisco de Caravajal, Militia Captain 

 of Gonzalo Pizarro ; and after the battle they fought, he caught them, 

 separately in Pocona and beheaded Lope de Mendoza and Nicolas 

 de Heredia and sent their heads to Arequipa, as is related by the 



