WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES — VAZQlTEZ DE ESPINOSA 669 



snow water comes down, it is after midnight that a great wall of 

 water arrives and flows for 2 or 3 hours ; it carries along everything 

 before it. This can be counted on as a regular thing for every dawn, 

 and it lasts the time mentioned ; and as those who did not know 

 the country have suffered by it, they have given this tiny valley the 

 name of Hatunllulla, which means big liar and deceiver. From here 

 it is 5 leagues to the Algarrobal, and from there 3 to Copiapo, which 

 is the boundary point of the Circuit Courts and the Archdiocese and 

 Diocese of the Charcas and of Santiago de Chile, This must suffice, 

 and we shall turn back and describe the Provinces of Los Lipes 

 and Chichas of that Archdiocese, where it borders on that of Tucuman. 



Chapter XXXIII 



Of the Provinces of Los Lipes and Chichas. 



1759. The Province of Los Lipes is 50 leagues WSW. of the city 

 of La Plata ; on the W. it is bounded by the Province just described 

 of Atacama. This province raises few crops ; the Indians live in 

 tiny valleys where they grow canahua, which is a cereal like hemp- 

 seed ; they live on this and small fish which they catch in a lake in 

 the Alota Valley, which takes up a large part of it. This province 

 is very rich in silver mines, for it is all paved with it. It is 5 leagues 

 from the Alota Valley to the chief mining site in this province, a 

 Spanish village called Lipes ; from here it is 9 leagues to the Tupiza 

 mine site, and 13 from there to that of Turque, and 14 to the mining 

 camp known as San Vicente, on the road toward the Province of 

 Los Chichas and Tarija, which is the boundary. Besides the silver 

 mines with which this whole province is covered, there are mines 

 of lipis (copper sulfate), which gives the province its name, and 

 of lodestone. 



1760. Since this whole province has large uninhabited districts, 

 it is all covered with game, like guanacos, vicunas, deer, vizcachas, 

 and other animals, which also form the food of the Indians. This 

 is the last sierra province in Peru toward Chile ; coastwards it is 

 bounded by Atacama Province, as has been stated ; to the WNW. 

 by the Pica and Tarapaca Valleys of Arequipa Diocese ; on the E. 

 by the Province of Los Chichas and the villages of La Quiaca and 

 Omaguaca in the Kingdom of Tucuman. In this Province of Los 

 Lipes, the Viceroy of Peru appoints a Corregidor for the administra- 

 tion of justice. 



1761. The Province of Los Chichas, like that of Los Lipes, is very 

 rich in silver ore. On the W. it is bounded by the valleys of Pilaya 



