396 The Andes and the Amazons. 



CHAPTER XXX 



Over the Andes. — Chachapoyas. — The Heart of the Andes. — Cajamarea and 

 its Relics of Atahuallpa. — Arrival at the Pacific. — The City of Lima. 



While most other towns in Northern Peru are but vast 

 pig-sties containing human habitations, Chachapoyas is the 

 best - built and cleanest city west of Manaos : its grand 

 plaza and paved streets grant no indulgences to the lower 

 animals. The city is regularly laid out, and contains a 

 cuartel for soldiers, a university, a rather iixiposing cathe- 

 dral, and the residence of the bishop, whose see extends 

 from Moyobamba to Cajamarea. Perched 7600 feet above 

 the sea, Chachapoyas possesses a delightful and equable 

 climate, ranging from 40° to 79°, with the mean tempera- 

 ture of 62° Fahr. Here, for the first time since leaving 

 New York, we saw bread made from, native flour. Yet 

 there is very little of that agriculture which requires a 

 preparation of the soil : the people (to the number of 5000) 

 depend mainly on the voluntary gifts of nature, scratching 

 the ground with wooden plows to raise a little wheat, corn, 

 potatoes, and rice. Six crops of rice can be raised with- 

 out resowing. Flour sells for $10 a quintal ; potatoes, 15 

 cents a pound ; cleaned wool, 18 pounds for $2 ; cacao from 

 the warmer regions at $30 a quintal ; and cochineal at 25 

 cents an ounce. Nothing is exported but a little cascarilla 

 bark. The best Indian tobacco grows at Bagua, in the val- 

 ley of the Utcubamba, and is sold at four reals for three 

 pounds. The main woods for construction — cedar, wal- 

 nut, ishpingu, and capuri^ — being brought a considerable 

 distance, are very high. All boards, from Iquitos to the 



