Jan.] 



CITY OF TRUXILLO. 



187 



friendly and hospitable. The air is salubrious, the climate mild, and 

 the soil productive. The shores and waters abound with shell and 

 scale-fish of an excellent quality. The surrounding country is said 

 to be very fertile, the plantations producing sugar, wheat, cocoa, indigo, 

 coffee, maize, olives, vines, fruits, and vegetables in abundance. The 

 natives are an interesting, friendly, and industrious people. The inte- 

 rior abounds with wild animals, and the forests are inhabited and visited 

 by a great variety of beautiful birds. 



January 2\st. — On Friday, the 21st, we arrived at Guanchaco, the 

 seaport of Truxillo, a Peruvian city of some celebrity, of which I 

 shall speak presently. The port of Guanchaco is six or eight miles 

 north-west of it, in latitude 8° 1' S., long. 78° 58' W. Variation per 

 azimuth 8° 57' easterly. 



This place is easily known by the bell mountain which rises in the 

 interior, to the south of Truxillo, and by the mountain of Malabrigo, a 

 little to the north of Guanchaco, which descends to the seashore. 

 The coast between this place and Port Santa has many small reefs 

 and sunken rocks, some of which extend nearly two miles into the 

 sea; and from Guanchaco to Callao there are many small rocky 

 islands, lying near the shore, all of which contain hair-seals. I believe 

 that a vessel might soon collect a cargo of hair-seal skins from the 

 islands and rocks along this coast, were she to come in the proper 

 seasons — namely, when they visit the shore to breed, and when they 

 return to shed their coats. 



Truxillo is another South American city which owes its origin to 

 the Spanish conqueror of Peru, Francisco Pizarro, who founded it in 

 the year 1535, and gave it the name of his native city in old Spain. 

 It stands in the fertile valley of Chimo, on the north side of the river 

 Moche, about two miles from the sea, shut in by two majestic moun- 

 tains. The city is surrounded with a brick wall, and the houses gen- 

 erally are constructed of the same material ; embellished with stately 

 balconies and superb porticoes. Few of them, however, exceed one 

 story in height, on account of those terraneous convulsions to which 

 all these countries are more or less subject. 



The population of Truxillo, including Spaniards, Indians, mestizoes, 

 mulattoes, &c, is estimated at about eight thousand souls. The inhab- 

 itants, generally, in their character, manners, customs, and habits, are 

 much like those of Lima ; the women are as handsome, as accom- 

 plished, and as fond of dress ; and the city has suffered nearly as 

 much as its neighbour by the prolonged struggle of the revolution. 



The surrounding country is picturesque in appearance, and prolific 

 in all the comforts of life. The fertile plains in this district are cov- 

 ered with sugar-canes and vineyards ; wheat and different kinds of 

 grain have been cultivated with so much success in that part of it 

 near the Andes, that these articles are exported to Panama, on the 

 Isthmus of Darien. In the neighbourhood of the city are still extant 

 the ruins of several Peruvian monuments that were sacked by the 

 earlier settlers. The waters of a neighbouring river are carried 

 through the whole of this delightful country by canals and other arti- 

 ficial conveyances. 



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