ITINERARY FROM CHAVIN TO CHICOPLAYA. 



ITINERARY PROM CHAVIN TO CHICOPLAYA. 



Having quitted Chavin of Pariaca by the new road*, the traveller has to pro- 

 ceed four leagues to the town of Xican, whence to the tambo\ of the Virgin, he 

 passes over a league of fertile ground abounding in pastures. Here the rugged 

 heights which form the frontier of the mountainous territory begin ; and the 

 shelter they afford renders the cold less sensible than before. A league and a half 

 further, a spacious cavern, formed by Nature, and named by the Indians, QuisuUo- 

 machai, offers a lodging to the passengers, however numerous they may be ; and 

 in its vicinity they will find abundant pastures for theii- cattle. If they are de- 

 sirous, however, to be more commodiously lodged, they will proceed another 

 league, to the tambo of Magrapata, the pastures still presenting themselves as be- 

 fore. Somewhat more than half a league beyond this baiting place, lies Palma- 

 machai, where the mountainous tei'ritory commences, and where there are like- 

 wise good pastures, together with several natural caverns in the rocks, affording as 

 good a lodging as can be desired, and a number of huts built by the guides. A 

 quarter of a league further, the traveller reaches the site named Querecoto : it 

 may be denominated a town, in consequence of the numerous huts built there by 

 the workmen who were engaged in making the new road. From Querecoto to 

 Pucliartambo, which implies the tambo of recreation, distant a league and a quar- 

 ter, several large and beautiful plains, highly susceptible of cultivation, and con- 

 taining the vestiges of plantations and decayed huts, present themselves to the tra- 

 veller's view. Having proceeded another league, he falls in with the river of 

 Santa Rosa, over which there is a commodious bridge. In this part, the soil, and 

 the temperature of the air, are admirably calculated for the cultivation of plantains, 

 canes, &c. j and accordingly a fine plantation has been made, since the new road 

 was construfted. The drained lake of Negrococha next occurs, at the distance of 

 somewhat more than a league, having in its vicinity good arable lands, and several 

 decayed huts deserted by the ancient proprietors. Having journied another league, 

 the traveller reaches the great marshes of Chapacra, in which there was formerly 



* First opejied by Don Juan de Bezares, in 1789. See p. 344. 



f For these tambos, or baiting places, resembling in their institution tiie caravansaries of the East, tra-. 

 vellers are chiefly indebted to the benevolence of the missionaries. 



& popu- 



