shall speak briefly because a relation of it was sent from
Caxamalca. This land, from Tumbez to Chincha has [a width of some] ten
leagues, in some places more, in others less; it is a broad, flat, sandy
land in which no grass or herbs grow and where it rains but little; it
is [in places] fertile in maize and fruits because the people sow and
irrigate their farms with water from the rivers that come down from the
mountains. The houses which the laborers use are made of rushes and
branches, because, when it does not rain, it is very hot, and few of the
houses have roofs.[96] They are a wretched folk, and many of them are
blind on account of the great amount of sand that there is. They are
poor in gold and silver, and what they have is because those who live in
the sierra exchange it for goods. All the land beside the sea is of this
description as far as Chincha, and even fifty leagues beyond there. They
dress in cotton [bambaso] and eat maize both cooked and raw, and
half-raw meat. At the end of the plains which are called Ingres are some
very high mountains which extend from the city of San Miguel as far as
Xauxa, and which may well be one hundred and fifty leagues long, but
have little breadth. It is a very high and rugged land of mountains and
many rivers; there are no forests save some trees in places where there
is always a thick mist. It is very cold because there is a snow-capped
mountain range which extends from Caxamalca to Xauxa and on which there
is snow all the year through. The people who live there are much more
advanced than the others, because they are very polished and warlike and
of good dispositions. They are very rich in gold and silver because they
get it from many places in the mountains. None of the lords who have
governed these provinces have ever been able to make any use of these
coast-people, as they are such a wretched and poor folk, as I have said,
that they are fit to be used for nothing else than to carry fish and
fruits [up into the highlands], for as soon as they come into the
mountainous regions, their own land being very hot, they sicken for the
most part; and the same thing happens to those who inhabit the
mountains if they go down into the hot country. Those who dwell on the
other side of the land, beyond the summits of the mountains, are like
savages who have no houses nor any maize save a little; they have very
great forests and maintain themselves almost entirely on the fruit of
the