426 FROM PANAMA TO LIMA. 



shore. San Miguel de Piura, of which it is the port, was the first town founded by Pizarro. 

 It lies upon a small stream of the same name, that fertilizes a valley celebrated in Peru for the 

 salubrity of its climate, and which is said to contain a population of 75,000. The town has 

 only 5,000 or 6,000 inhabitants. 



The requisite supply of coal being on board, our diplomatic and several other passengers went 

 ashore, and we left Payta at 3 P. M., with quite a number of Peruvians in place of the departing 

 messmates. Afternoon and night proved particularly fine,, with a clear starlight and cool 

 atmosphere. 



October 6. Morning dawned cold, damp, and cloudy, native passengers shivering under 

 thick clothing and overcoats. Immediately on the coast the land was too low to be seen 

 through the hazy atmosphere; but we caught occasional glimpses of the glittering snow-peaks 

 of the Cordilleras far above the vapory stratum. There were considerable numbers of cape 

 pigeons (the spotted variety) about the ship all day, but no fish of any description. 



Anchored off Lambayeque (latitude 6 47' S.) at 2 p. M., and remained two hours to land and 

 receive freight, mail, and passengers, all which were transported on balsas. This is a perfectly 

 open roadstead, where the sea breaks eternally along the beach. Ships anchor nearest to a little 

 town called San Jose, containing three or four hundred people. Lambayeque, with as many 

 thousands, lies five or six miles to the northward. A spirited account of a visit here, and of 

 the huacas (Indian mounds) in the vicinity, may be found in "Three Years in the Pacifie." To 

 the north of San Jose, the hills produce scattered and scrubby vegetation for nearly a mile ; but 

 southward again the soil resumes its arid and desolate aspect. 



October 7. At 8 A. M. anchored off Huanchaco, in latitude 8 04' S., a perfectly open road- 

 stead, where the sea breaks heavily on the beach at all times. It is a village of some five 

 or six hundred people, immediately on the. beach, with a back-ground of the most abrupt 

 possible volcanic mountains, against which a white church stands in distinct relief. It would 

 be difficult to imagine more wild and picturesque clusters of peaks than are arranged about 

 Huanchaco, or a more dreamy landscape than they present in the declining sunlight, with 

 misty scrolls floating among them. The city of Trujillo, of which this is the port, was founded 

 by Pizarro soon after Lima. It is on a sandy plain, watered by a small stream, two leagues 

 distant from Huanchaco, though not more than three miles from the sea. 



As there is always a heavy swell in the roadstead, and the surf breaks in much fury on the 

 shore, it is difficult, as well as tedious, to ship or discharge cargoes; yet the valley about 

 Trujillo is so fertile that several vessels are constantly employed in transporting wheat, sugar, 

 maize, a small amount of cotton, and bars of silver brought from mines in the vicinity. Pas- 

 sengers and freight were brought off in stout launches made sharp at both extremities, the 

 better to encounter breakers ; and at a later hour the mail came by a courier mounted on a little 

 balsa called a cabattito. This last consists of two conical bundles of rushes or straw lashed firmly 

 together, and the sharp points turned up like the toe of a Turkish slipper. Its length does 

 not exceed ten or twelve feet, and, as it is very light, the bateero may carry it out of the reach of 

 the breakers as soon as he touches terra firma. He sits astride his " pony," and, with a 

 split bamboo for a paddle, rides over the seas far more rapidly than the launches can be moved. 

 I never saw the caballito at any other port on the coast ; but there is a third kind of balsa 

 common from Panama to Valdivia. This consists of two seal-skins made air-tight, and inflated 

 like bladders. These are lashed side by side, and have a small platform of cane or rushes in 

 the hollow between them. The balsero occupies the platform, propelling his craft with a 

 double-bladed paddle, and will venture to sea when no ordinary boat could possibly live. 

 Some of the balsas are large enough to carry two or three persons, and may occasionally be 

 seen with a sail made of ponchos tied together. Smaller ones are universally used by fish- 

 ermen on the coast. 



Leaving the anchorage at 3 P. M., we soon opened Trujillo, four or five miles distant from us; 

 its cathedral, towers, and whitewashed walls, amid the dark verdure of the valley, making one 



