Chap. IV. «A M E%^1 C A. ^ 



thought Pl^arro, if Reafon could have rul'd him, might here ohely have rais'd him. 

 felf a Rent of two hundred thoufand Ducats per Annum 5 but Kis defire and hopes, 

 firftto find more at Potofi, and afterwards his ambicion and greedinefs to have and 

 command all,carriedhim to violent Courfes, which prov'd his Ruinc,as hath been 

 faid. The Town is conveniently fcated in a fruitful Soil, honor'd with the Refi- 

 dence of the Governor of the Province, and wich a Bifhops See, faid to be the 

 richeft of Peru, vi^ of fourfcore thoufand Ducats per Annum. The Cathedral and 

 divers Cloyfters give alfo a great luftre to the City. The antient Inhabitants of 

 this Countrey, eipecially about thofe parts where now this City ftands, were the 

 Charcot and Cbaranques, both valiant People, who by Command of the Ingas fetch'd 

 invaluable Treafures out of the neighboring Mines of Porco, where a thoufand 

 Men were continually kept at work. In La Plata were reckon'd long fince, befides 

 Spaniards, above fixty thoufand Peruvians which pay annual Tribute, 



i. Oro/tf/i, a place of good Metal, as a man may perceive by the Name . It lieth 

 in the rich and pleafant Valley Cocbobamba, twenty Leagues diftant from LaPlata. 



j. Potofi, eighteen Leagues Weft ward from La Plata, by the Spaniards call'd Tbe 

 Imperial City, built at the Foot of a Mountain bearing the fame Denomination, on a 

 barren Soil under a cold Climate, though but twenty one Degrees to the South- 

 ward of the Eauinotlial Line : the Cold proceeds from the high Lands, which lie 

 bare to the bleak and fliarp Winds call'd Tomohavi, which blow every year very 

 fiercely from May till September. But though the barren Countrey produces no 

 Fruit, yet no place in Peru hath greater plenty of all Provifions and Dainties than 

 this, the Markets being always full of Fruit, Salt-Meat, Mai^, Papas, Wheat, Sugar, 

 Sweet-meats, and all things that are rcquifite for the fubfiftence of Man.kind, 

 which are brought thither from all parts for the Silver, which is there in fuch 

 plenty. As to what concerns the famous Mountain Potofi in the Countrey of 

 Charcas, it is of an Afli colour, and rifes above the adjacent Mountains in the form 

 of a Sugar-Loaf; on the top of it ftands a Chappel, to which leads a craggy Path, 

 which with a little care may be rid up with a Horfe 5 the heighth thereof is a thou* 

 fand fix hundred and twenty four Rods, or a quarter of a League : at the Foot 

 thereof appears the Mine call'd Guaina Potofi, that is, Tbe young Potofi-, near which 

 the City Potofi ftands, being two Leagues in circumference, and is adorn'd with a 

 Church and Cloyfter for the Dominicans, and exceedingly reforted toby Traders. 



In the time when the Ingas Govem'd Peru, the Silver-Mines at Porco were very 

 famous ; but it was not till after the arrival of the Spaniards that Silver was found 

 in Guaina Potofi, and by degrees the Silver Veins which lay hid in the great Potofi 5 

 the manner of which Difcovery was as followeth : 



A Peruvian call'd Gualpa, who work'd in the Mines at Porco, going a Hunting, it the cccaiion 

 chane'dthat the Game ran up the fteep fountain o( Potofi, which prevented his Difcove^'of 

 purfuing of it any farther 5 but the Mountain being overgrown with Trees, hep«J£" lef,n 

 got hold from one Bough to another to help himfelf up, and at laft taking hold of 

 the Bramble call'd Qumua, he pull'd the fame out of the Ground, and finding it 

 heavy, look'd upon it, and efpy'd a great lump of Silver hanging at the Root 

 of it . whereupon viewing the Hole, he difcover'd a rich Silver Vein ; of which 

 taking fome pieces home, and melting them, he found that it was the bcfl Sil- 

 ver that ever he had known ; wherefore he privately got a greater quantity, and by 

 degrees grew extraordinary rich : but though he carried his Defign never fo clofe, 

 yet he was at laft fufpe&ed, and efpecially by his Neighbor Guanca, born in the 

 Valley Xauxa, who was the more jealous of him, becaufe he fold greater Bars of 

 Silver than any were caft at Porco 5 whereupon he refolv'd to fpeak to him, and 



getting 





I 



