ULLOa's voyage to south AMERICA. 60I 



the river is another, called the Ache, to which there is a daily refort of coaches and 

 calafhes. 



The only monuments of antiquity remaining in the neighbourhood of Lima, are 

 the guacas, or fepulchres of the Indians, and fome, walls, which were built on both 

 fides of the roads, and are frequently feen all over this country. But three leagues 

 north-eaft of the city, in a valley called Guachipa, are ftill (landing the walls of a 

 large town. Through ignorance I did not vifit them whilfl I was at Lima : the account 

 of them, however, which the ingenious Marquis de Valde Lyrios was pleafed to give 

 me, may be equally relied on, as if related from my own knowledge ; efpecially as he 

 took a very accurate furvey of the whole. He obferved, that the ftreets were very 

 narrow ; that the walls of the houfes, which in common with all the buildings of that 

 time were without roofs, were only of mud, and that each houfe conlifted of three 

 fmall fquare apartments. The doors towards the ftreet, were not fo high as the general 

 ftature of a man, but the walls wanted little of three yards. Among all the houfes 

 which compofed this large town, fituated at the foot of a mountain, is one, whofe 

 walls overlook all the others, and thence it is concluded to have belonged to the 

 cacique or prince ; though its ruinous condition renders it impoffible to determine 

 abfolutely. The inhabitants of this valley, where the fruitful fields are watered from 

 the river Rimac, at no great diftance from thefe ruins, call them Old Caxamarca, 

 though it cannot now be difcovered whether that was the real name of the town in the 

 times of paganifm. For there neither remains any memorial of fuch tradition, nor 

 any mention of it in the hiftories of that kingdom, written by Garcilazo and Herrera ; 

 fo that all we know is, that the epithet Old is now applied to it by way of diftindion 

 from the prefent town of Caxamarca. 



One aftonifhing particular in the walls of this town, and in all others in the neigh- 

 bouring valleys, is, that though built on the furface of the earth, without any founda- 

 tion, they have withftood thofe violent earthquakes which overthrew the more folid 

 buildings of Lima and other large towns ere£led in the Spanilh manner : having 

 received no other damage than what naturally refults from being forfaken, or what the 

 drivers have done who make it a refting place for their cattle in the road to Lima. 



From the conftrudion of thefe houfes it may be inferred, that long experience has 

 inftruded the natives, that in parts fo fubjeft to earthquakes, it was improper to lay a 

 foundation in order to flrengthen the walls ; and tradition informs us, that when the 

 newly-conquered Indians faw the Spaniards dig foundations for lofty buildings, they 

 laughed at them, telling them they were digging their own fepulchres ; intimating, that 

 the earthquakes would bury them under the ruins of their houfes. It is indeed a me- 

 lancholy proof of pride and obftinacy, that after having the prudent example of the 

 Indians before their eyes, the total ruin of the city, at four different times, in lefs than 

 the fpace of two hundred years, has not been able entirely to eradicate the defl:ru6Hve 

 palfion for airy and elegant buildings, though thefe neceflarily require large and lofty 

 walls, which mull have a foundation proportioned to the magnitude of the ftrufture, 

 and the weight they are to fupport. 



CHAP. I^. — Of the Plenty and different Kinds of Prgvifions at Lima, 



THE fertility of the foil, the goodnefs of the climate, and the convenient fituation of' 

 Lima, concur to maintain in it a conftant plenty. The fruits and herbs have been 

 VOL. XIV, 4 H ilready 



