12 A VOYAGE TO Book VI L 



travelling it The whole country between thefe two 

 places is a level fandy defart. 



Though the badnefs and danger of the roads in 

 Peru fcarce admit of any other method of travelling 

 than on mules, yet from Piura to Lima there is a 

 conveniency of going in litters. Thefe inftead of poles 

 are fufpended on two large canes, like thofe of 

 Guayaquil, and are hung in fuch a manner as not to 

 touch the water in fording rivers, nor ftrike againft 

 the rocks in the afcents or defcents of difficult roads. 



As the mules hired at Piura perform the whole 

 journey to Lima, without being relieved, and in this 

 great diftance, are many long defarts to be crofTed, 

 the natural fatigue of the diltance, increafed by the 

 fandinefs of the roads, render fome intervals of reft 

 abfoluteiy necelTary, efpeciaily at Sechura, becaufe on 

 leaving that town we enter the great defart of the 

 fame name. We tarried here two days ; during 

 which we obferved the latitude, and found it 5*^ 32' 



The original fituation of this town was contigu- 

 ous to the fea, at a fmall diftance from a point called 

 Aguja J but being deftroyed by an inundation, it was 

 thought proper to build the prefent town of Sechu- 

 ra about a league diftance from the coaft, near a 

 river of the fame name, and which is fubjedl to the 

 fame alterations as that of Piura; for at the time we 

 crolTed it no water was to be feen whereas from the 

 months of February or March till Auguft" or Septem- 

 ber, its water is fo deep and the current fo ftrong, as 

 to be palTed only in balzas ; as we found in our fe- 

 cond and third journey to Lima. When the river is 

 dry, the inhabitants make ufe of the above-mentioned 

 expedient of digging wells in its beds, where they in- 

 deed find water but very thick and brackifli. Se- 

 chura contains about 200 houfes of cane, and d, 

 large and handfome brick church y the inhabitants 



are 



