TOPOGEAPHY OF PERU. 317 



reservoirs, while another conduit supplies the water required for the works and 

 for the surrounding gardens. 



Talara — Eten. 



At Talara, which has one of the best anchorages on the Peruvian coast, only 

 the refined oil is shipped, the agricultural produce of the northern district being 

 all forwarded through the ports of Tumbez and Paita. Two-thirds of the whole 

 traffic, estimated in favourable years at from £500,000 to £600,000, are centred 

 in Paita, which stands at the head of a deep inlet. Although surrounded by 

 sands, like Tumbez, the harbour of this place is better sheltered from the pre- 

 vailing southern winds, and it is also deeper, affording from 20 to 24 feet of 

 water within half a mile of the shore. 



The copious Rio Achira (Chira), which reaches the bay of Paita some 12 

 miles farther north, yields an abundance of water, conveyed to the town by an 

 aqueduct. The Hio de Piura, another scarcely less copious stream, describes a 

 great bend, bringing it close to Paita, and ramifying in a thousand channels 

 over the fertile plains of Piara {San Ifigitel de Piura). This place claims to 

 produce " the best cotton in the world," which, with the straw hats of the neigh- 

 bouring Catacaos, and fabricated antique potteries, supposed to come from the 

 surrounding burial-places, is shipped by the steamers calling regulaily at Paita. 

 A coast railway connects Paita with Piura and Catacaos, and also affords com- 

 munication by a loop line between the Achira and Piura valleys. In this district 

 are bred the best mules in Peru, and some gold-mines are worked near Ayavaca, 

 perched on a lofty mountain (10,200 feet), in the upper Achira basin. 



South of the Sechura desert, the most extensive solitude in North Peru, the 

 first seaport lies at the mouth of the Pio Morrope, whose bed is waterless for the 

 most part of the year. Here are situated the two large villages of 3Iorrope and 

 Motiipe, surrounded by sugar-plantations cultivated by Chinese laliour. Farther 

 on are the open roadsteads of Lambai/eque, San José, Pimente/, and Puerto de 

 Eten, all shallow, dangerous, and exposed to the winds and surf. The towns of 

 the plains, standing a few yards above sea-level, are all connected by a network 

 of railways radiating from ChicJaijo. One branch runs north-east by Lambayeque 

 to FerriJiafe ; another ascends the slopes eastwards in the direction of Patapo, 

 at the entrance to the gorges ; a third runs south to Monspfa and Puerto de Eten, 

 and a fourth west to Pimentel. 



Eten was till recently inhabited by a community of full-blood Indians, 

 speaking a Yunca dialect, sujjposed by some to be related to Chinese. At present 

 all speak Spanish, and are one of the most industrious peoples in Peru, manu- 

 facturing hats, fans, cigar-cases, and many other fancy articles of artistic 

 design. Lambayeque and Trujillo contend for the honour of having been the 

 first towns to throw off the Spanish yoke. The Lobos Islands, off Lambayeque, 

 have acquired considerable economic importance from their guano-beds, estimated 

 originally at 8,000,000 tons. 



