rises from a
lake of considerable size in the Altos de Huaquimarci. Both unite below
the village of Sayan. In the vicinity of Huaura the river forms several
marshes, in which malaria is generated. In very few places have I seen
the stratum of malaria so distinctly separated from the atmosphere as
here. It lies at an average about two, or two and a half feet above the
marsh, and is carried over it by strong atmospheric currents. It is
distinguished by a peculiar kind of opalization, and on certain
changes of light it exhibits a yellowish tint. This is particularly
perceptible in the morning, on coming down from the high grounds. The
marshy plain then appears overhung with a thick color-changing sheet
of malaria. Malignant intermittent fever and diseases of the skin are
frequent in Huaura. The town is thinly peopled; the number of
inhabitants being not more than 2000.

A great sugar plantation, called El Ingenio, is situated at about a
quarter of a league from Huaura. It formerly belonged to the Jesuits,
but is now the property of a rich Lima family. The _trapiche_, or
sugar-mill, is worked by a water-wheel, the first ever established in
Peru, a circumstance of which the owner proudly boasts.

The valley which opens here is magnificent, and to ride through it
easterly eleven leagues towards Sayan is one of the finest excursions
which can be made in Peru. Over this beautiful district are scattered
many rich plantations. The one next in importance to El Ingenio is
Acaray, which, though not very large, is most carefully cultivated:
another, called Huillcahuaura, has a splendid building erected on it. In
the middle of the valley is the extensive sugar plantation of Luhmayo.
Near this place I saw, in a negro's hut, an ounce of immense size, which
had been killed a few weeks previously. More than fifty Negroes and
Indians had been engaged in subduing this ferocious animal, which was
not killed until after a conflict of two days, in the course of which
several negroes were dangerously wounded. This gigantic specimen
measured, from the snout to the tip of the tail, eight feet three
inches; the tail itself measuring two feet eight inches.

At the sugar works of Luhmayo, notwithstanding the number of pipes, and
other methods of supplying water, the cylinders are always worked by
oxen, and are kept in motion day and night. I took a view of the works
during the night, and the extraordinary picture I beheld will never be
effaced fr