676 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



Chapter XXXVII [27] 



Of the Cities of La Rioja, Londres, etc. 



1776. The city of La Rioja forms a triangle with those of Santiago 

 and Cordoba, in a southerly direction 54 leagues from Cordoba, 

 It is built on a level and placid plain, with bright skies and a hot 

 climate. This city has more than 2 leagues of orange groves, as 

 well as the other Spanish and native fruit trees. As one comes into 

 the city, since the orange trees, as a result of the country's even 

 climate, are always covered and loaded down with blossoms, this 

 entrance to the city for that distance of 2 leagues is a lovely cheering 

 sight, with the trees loaded with fruit the whole year round, and 

 the great freshness and verdure ; but what aids to make that spot 

 seem the terrestrial Paradise or a bit of Heaven is the fragrance, 

 sweetness, and perfume of the orange blossoms ; from them they 

 make in that city quantities of orange blossom perfume and other 

 exquisite preserves. 



1777. The city will have 250 Spanish residents ; there is a parish 

 church and Dominican and Franciscan convents ; in the year 1623 

 the Jesuits had the intention of erecting one. There are many vine- 

 yards around the city and they make much wine, which forms the 

 principal commerce of the city. For watering the vineyards and 

 gardens as well as the fields of wheat, corn, sweet potatoes, and 

 other root crops and cereals, a large irrigation canal provides for all, 

 drawn from a river which runs near the city ; other smaller ones 

 run out of this for the service of the city, which is a bit of Paradise. 

 In the city and the Indian villages or parishes of its district, which 

 are peopled with civilized Indians, they make quantities of cloth 

 from their large crops of cotton. In its neighborhood it has many 

 cattle and mule ranches, and its plains are full of wild cattle and 

 horses, like all that Kingdom. 



1778. Some 40 leagues from La Rioja, to the S., Capt. Juan Perez 

 de Zorita founded in the year 1557 (1057 in MS) the city of Londres. 

 It has a hot climate, and is only a small settlement, with some parishes 

 of Indians of the Diaguitas and Juries tribes, as most are in the 

 Province of Tucuman. They have cattle and mule ranches and weave 

 quantities of cloth and the best canopies, bedspreads, and Indian 

 blankets in that Kingdom, in different colors ; they dye them with 

 indigo, cochineal, and other dyes found in those provinces. While 

 the rivers in the Kingdom of Peru usually run from E. to W., from 

 the Sierras and the Cordillera to the Pacific, those in this Kingdom 

 run from W. to E., and they all flow into the great Rio de la Plata. 



