Chap. XYTTT. A'ALLEYS ON THE COAST. 301 



a credit to the eoimtry, and a lasting monument of the energy 

 and perseverance of its projector, wlio trusts that it will be 

 but the first of a series of such penitentiaries in different parts 

 of the country. Don Mariano Paz Soldan is also engaged in 

 organizing a general topographical survey of Peru. 



There are many landed proprietors and others, of Paz 

 Soldan's stamp, who have availed themselves of the period 

 of tranquillity since 1844, interrupted only by one year of 

 revolution, to improve their estates, and thus add to their 

 country's wealth, especially in the valleys on the coast. The 

 long slip of land between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean 

 enjoys an equable climate, rain and heaw storms are nearly 

 unknown, and refreshing dews descend during the night. The 

 greater part of this region consists of sandy desert, traversed 

 by ridges of rocky barren hills ; but wherever a stream, 

 descending from the Andes, is of sufficient volume to reach 

 tlie ocean, a rich and fertile valley borders its banks. These 

 valleys, of greater or less extent, and at various intervals, 

 break the monotony of the desert from the bay of Guayaquil 

 to the river Loa, which separates Peru from Bolivia. They 

 are admirably adapted for the cultivation of cotton, the vine, 

 the olive, and sugar-cane. 



Immense wealth is already derived from these valleys, and, 

 with judicious outlay for obtaining more regular supplies of 

 water, theii- capabilities might be multiplied indefinitely. The 

 valley of CaSete, south of Lima, which is in the hands of six 

 enterprising proprietors, is covered with sugar-cane plantations. 

 In 1860 it yielded sugar worth 1,000,000 dollars, aU raised by 

 Chinese and free negro labour. Further south, the valleys of 

 Pisco and Yea, thanks chiefly to Don Domingo Elias and his 

 sons, yield 70,000 hotijas of a spirit called pisco, 10,000 baiTels 

 of excellent wme, 800,000 lbs. of cotton, and 40,000 lbs. of 

 cochineal. Still further south there are many vaUeys which 

 render their owners wealthy by the produce of cane-fields and 



