XXII 
ON THE PACIFIC COAST 
327 
to a procession in her honour, and gaily-dressed, 
life-size figures of that sorrowful lady are set up 
under sparkling canopies at the corners of the prin- 
cipal streets. On this day, ladies who rejoice in 
the name of Dolores " (and in Catholic countries 
they are legion) invite their friends to eat sweet- 
meats and to drink wine and chicha with them. 
Even I, old bachelor and foreigner as I am, have 
received several such invitations, and one Dolores 
has gone the length of sending me a pair of garters 
embroidered in blue, red, and white silk ! Vanitas 
vanitatum ! Yet even this mediaeval fooling is 
better than the unmitigated money - seeking (by 
fair means or foul), and as reckless and luxurious 
spending, of Guayaquil. 
Sometimes our superstitions are rich in historical 
souvenirs. When that most valiant of Pizzaro's 
warriors, Pedro de Candia, leapt on shore at Tum- 
bez, he carried in his hand a cross, extemporised 
from two bits of firewood. The inhabitants let 
loose on him "a lion" and a tiger, who, instead of 
attacking him, prostrated themselves before the 
cross, etc. etc. A piece of that famous cross is pre- 
served on the altar of one of the churches of Piura, 
and the church itself is dedicated to La Santa Cruz 
del Milagro (The Holy Cross of the Miracle). 
NOTES ON THE VALLEYS OF PIURA AND CHIRA, 
IN NORTHERN PERU 1 
Topography and Mineralogy 
Along the western side of South America, extending from near 
the Equator on the N. to about Coquimbo in Chile, latitude 30° 
S., there is a strip of land, included between the Pacific and the 
Extracts from the Foreign Office Paper by R. Spruce. 
