ITINERAKV 



FROM CHAVIN TO CHICOPLAYA. 



intersefted. The converts inhabiting the two towns there founded by the Francis- 

 can monks, would, it is presumable, lend their aid in coUefting them, if a com- 

 merce, or traffic of exchange, were to be once established. 



Which of the ancient provinces of the kijigdom, it may be asked, affords con- 

 veniences, produdlions, and an abundance, tantamount to those of this unculti- 

 vated space ? The passage leading to it having been cleared, the means are af- 

 forded to people this mountainous territory, and to establish a communication be- 

 tween the new settlers, throughout an extent of nearly sixty leagues in length, at 

 which the frontier of Guamalies is computed, and of twenty-two in breadth. If 

 it be certain, that the population is in all places augmented in proportion to the pro- 

 ductions, how much may that of the kingdom be increased, by promoting the re- 

 establishment of the decayed towns, which have no longer any thing to dread from 

 the barbarians, and in which the Spaniard, however tenderly he may have been 

 nurtured, may find a comfortable and agreeable abode. With the help of a few 

 piastres, to begin his speculations, he may speedily realize a capital which will en- 

 rich himself and his posterity. If, in imitation of Don Juan de Bezares, any en- 

 terprising individual should undertake to facIHtate the entrances by the provinces 

 of Cusco, Guamanga, Jauja, Tarma, Ambo, and Pataz, may not the viceroyalty 

 of Lima, in that case, promise to itself an equivalent to what it lost, in the dis- 

 memberment which took place to ereft that of Buenos Ayres ? The entrance into 

 the mountainous territory illustrated above, is not the only one this valuable mem- 

 ber of the community has engaged to clear. Two others may be enumerated, 

 namely, the one he has begun, and submitted to the viceregal approbation, from 

 Paucaco to Patairrhondos and Huanuco ; and that which he has arranged with the 

 Indians, from Old Chancaran to the town of Xican, likewise bordering on the 

 province of Guamalies. 



Urged by his example, the missionaries have already begun to open tracks of 

 communication ; but in undertakings of this nature the apostolical poverty of their 

 profession cannot keep pace with their zeal, however eifedhially they may be aided 

 by their converts. It is therefore necessary that the good subjects of the king, who 

 possess the means, should engage in these enterprises, which will certainly be pro- 

 duftive of greater advantages than can result from the sedentary commerce of the 

 capitals, distributed in so many hands. They should, in the furtherance of their 

 views, constantly bear in mind this most important maxim, neither to oppress any 

 one in the traffic or labours, nor to bestow on the Indian the value of a needle, 

 unless he contributes something, if it be nothing more than a flint he will after- 

 wards have to throw away. They ought more especially, among the individuals of 



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