204 PROVINCE OF CAR AVAYA. Chap. Xll. 



the snowy range, and descended into the great tropical forests 

 of Caravaya,'^ where they discovered rivers, the sands of which 

 were full of gold. On the banks of these rivers they built 

 the towns of Sandia, San Gavan, and San Juan del Oro; 

 large sums in gold were sent home to Spain, and the last- 

 named settlement received the title of a royal city from 

 Charles V. In 1553 these settlers received a pardon from 

 the Viceroy Don Antonio de Mendoza, in consideration of tlie 

 gold they sent home to the Emperor. It is said that they 

 sent him a nugget weighing four arrobas, in the shape of a 

 bullock's head ; and that afterwards another nugget, in the 

 shape of a bullock's tongue, was sent to Philip II., but that the 

 ship which carried it was lost at sea. Eventually the wild 

 Chuncho Indians of the Sirineyri tribe fell upon the gold- 

 washers, and overpowered them. In the following century 

 certain mulattos occupied the gold-washings in Caravaya, and 

 the king, as a reward for their labours in extracting treasure, 

 offered to comply with any request they might make. The 

 mulattos asked to be called Senores, and for the privilege of 

 entering every town on white mules with red trappings, and 

 the bells ringing. The Senores mulattos were finally expelled 

 for knocking the priest of San Juan del Oro on the head 

 while he was saying mass, after a drunken broil. There are 

 many vestiges of washings, bridges, and cuttings made by 

 these mulattos, in different parts of Caravaya.^ 



The Spaniards, however, long continued to extract gold 

 from the rivers of Caravaya, and established coca-iarms and 

 coffee-plantations in some of the ravines formed by spurs of 

 the Cordillera. Gold, however, was the product for which 

 Caravaya was most famous. 



In 1615 the viceroy Marquis of Montes Claros spoke of 



* Don Pablo Pimentel says that the I provincia de Carahaya, y majorias que 

 ancient name of the province was Ina- \ proponen al Supremo Gohierno el Sn- 

 huaya. prefecto de ella, Don Pablo Pimentel. 



" Bosquejo del estado actual de la [ Areqiiipa, 184H. 



