Chancay is pleasantly situated, about a league from the sea; its port is small, the anchorage bad, and the landing difficult. Its market is abundant in fish, flesh-meat, vegetables, and fruit: of the latter considerable quantities are carried to Lima; it is also famous for delicate sweet cakes, called biscochos. This is the capital of a district, which contains thirty-seven settlements, of different climates, because part of it is mountainous. The subdelegado, or political governor of the district, generally resides at Chancay, besides whom there are two alcaldes or mayors annually elected in the town.
At a short distance is Torre blanca, the seat of the Conde de Torre blanca, Marquis of Lara; and an excellent farm-house at Chancaillo; not far from which, and near the sea, are the colcas, deep pits dug in the sand. These pits have been surrounded with adobes, sun-dried bricks; and they are reported to have been granaries belonging to the army of Pachacutec, when this Inca was engaged in the conquest of the Chimu of Mansichi.
Fourteen leagues from Chancay stands the indian village Huacho; it is situated in a delightful valley, watered by the Huaura, which rises in the province of Cajatambo, and in its course to the sea irrigates more than thirty thousand acres of land. The village contains about four thousand inhabitants, all indians; it has a large parish church and three small chapels, besides a chapel of ease at Lauriama, where mass is celebrated on Sundays and festivals. The principal employment of the natives is the cultivation of their chacras, small farms, cutting salt at the salinas, fishing, and making straw hats, at which they are very dexterous. The hats are not made of plat: they begin at the centre of the crown, and continue the work by alternately raising one straw and depressing another, inserting or taking out straws, as the shape requires it, till the hat is finished. These hats are generally made either of fine rushes which grow on swampy ground, or of mocora, the produce of a palm tree, in the province of Lambayeque.
The chacras, plots of ground distributed to the indians by the government, and held during life, are supposed to be an equivalent for the tribute; and indeed they are an excellent compensation, for the produce is usually worth six times more than the sum paid, leaving at least five-sixths for the expences or trouble of cultivation. To the great credit of the indians no land is any where kept in better condition, nor more attention paid to the crops, which generally consist of wheat, maize, beans, camotes, yucas, pumpkins, potatoes, and many kinds of vegetables. There is an abundance of fruit trees, the produce of which is often carried to Lima. The hedges are almost entirely composed of those trees, such as the orange, lime, guava, pacay, palta, &c. In some places the vine and the granadilla are seen creeping about, craving support for their slender branches, as if unable to sustain the burthen of fruit they are destined to bear. The maguey is much cultivated in the hedges; besides this destination it produces cordage for general uses, and the flower stems growing twenty feet high serve as beams for the houses, and other similar purposes; being, if kept dry, of almost everlasting duration.
I had an excellent opportunity here of observing the character, manners, and customs of the indians, with whom I was very much pleased. They are kind and hospitable, but timidity and diffidence make them appear reserved and somewhat sullen. Their maxims are founded on their own adage—convince me that you are really my friend, and rest secure: has ver que eres mi amigo, y hechate a dormir. Whether this distrust be a natural characteristic trait, or whether it be the result of the privations they have suffered since the Spaniards became their masters, it is difficult to decide; but at all events it surely cannot be called a crime.
The indians on the coast of Peru are of a copper colour, with a small forehead, the hair growing on each side from the extremities of the eyebrows; they have small black eyes; small nose, the nostrils not protruding like those of the African; a moderately sized mouth, with beautiful teeth; beardless chin (except in old age) and a round face. Their hair is black, coarse, and sleek, without any inclination to curl; the body is well proportioned, and the limbs well turned, and they have small feet. Their stature is rather diminutive, but they are inclined to corpulency, when they become inactive, and it is a common saying, that a jolly person is tan gordo como un cacique, as fat as a cacique. The perspiration from their bodies is acetous, which some have supposed to be caused by a vegetable diet. In the colder climates, although in the same latitude, the complexion of the indians is lighter, owing perhaps to the cold; however, the Araucanians, who enjoy a much colder climate, are of a dark copper colour.
I shall here endeavour to refute some of the aspersions thrown by several writers upon the character of the Peruvian indians, whom I hope to place, in the estimation of unbiassed men, in a situation more honourable to human nature than they have yet enjoyed; and thus one of my principal objects for publishing this narrative will be obtained.
M. Bouguer says, that "they are all extremely indolent, they are stupid, they pass whole days sitting in the same place, without moving, or speaking a single word." I believe I may state, that in all hot climates an inclination to indolence is common, nay even natural; a hot climate precludes bodily exertion, unless the cravings of nature are satisfied with difficulty, and as this is not the case in Peru, half the vice, if it be a vice, disappears at once; add to this, that they have no motive to exertion above supplying the wants of nature—no stimulus—no market for an excess of produce, or the supplying of artificial wants—and the cause for indolence exists as necessarily as a cause for industry is found where the contrary happens. If a climate demand only a shade from the sun or a shelter from the rain, why should men build themselves stately or close habitations? Where nature spontaneously produces the requisite articles of food, competent to the consumption of the inhabitants, why should they exert themselves to procure a superfluous stock? and particularly where an introduction of new articles in succession is entirely unknown. What to M. Bouguer and others has appeared stupidity, perhaps deserves the name of indifference, the natural result of possessing all the means for satisfying real wants, and an ignorance of artificial ones. But if real stupidity be meant, I must aver that I never observed it either among the wild tribes of Arauco on the river Napo, or in those of the coasts of Choco. I recollect very well an indian, called Bravo, who was accused at Pomasqui of having stolen the mule which he had brought from the valleys to the eastward of Quito, laden with fruit. At the moment the accusation was laid before the alcalde, the indian threw his poncho or mantle over the head of the mule, and then desired the challenger to say of which eye his mule was blind? He answered, of the left. Then, said the indian, taking off the poncho, this mule cannot be yours, because it is blind of neither. That any beings endowed with speech should "sit whole days without speaking a word," is indeed the acme of taciturnity; but as M. Bouguer was perhaps ignorant of the language of the people he describes, he may probably deserve the same compliment from them. I found the Araucanians prone to talk; indeed eloquence is considered an accomplishment among them, and extremely necessary among the mapus, or chiefs. The Peruvians are neither silent in their meetings nor when travelling; however, they have little inquisitiveness, nor do they break out into soliloquys on the beauties of the surrounding scenery; but they converse freely on common place topics, particularly with a white man, if they find that he deigns to enter into conversation with them. Several of the tribes in Archidona and Napo, who are in their free state, certainly did not merit the accusation of dumb stupidity; for although unacquainted with their languages, I tried to converse with them in Quichua, aided by signs, and I really discovered more intelligence among them than I had a right to expect. What is often considered a step towards civilization or to social life, is a pastoral one; but if we search for it in a country where animals capable of domestication do not exist, we have no right to consider the inhabitants as barbarous, because they are not possessed of flocks and herds; nor do human beings deserve that epithet, who will share what they are possessed of with a stranger; and such hospitality I have frequently experienced. The kindness which these men show to the dog is no small proof of their sensibility; they will take long journeys to procure one, and value it as much as a lady esteems her lap dog. The utility of the animal may perhaps be said to be the chief motive of the indian's attachment; and what other motive has the shepherd or the herdsman?
M. Bouguer continues, "they are totally indifferent to wealth and all its advantages. One does not know what to offer them to procure their services; it is in vain to offer money, they answer, that they are not hungry." Wealth, in the general acceptation of the word, can procure no advantages to men who have no means of disposing of it. Where there is no market, money can purchase nothing; and where the natural wants are abundantly supplied, and men's desires have not created artificial ones, a market is superfluous and useless; but wherever the indians can exchange the produce of the country they inhabit for whatever pleases them, they are always anxious to do it. The Logroño indians trade with the city of Cuenca; the Yumbos, Colorados, and Malabas with Quito; the Chunchos, Pehuenches, Huilliches, and other tribes with Conception; the Orejones with Huanuco; and numerous other tribes frequent the settlements nearest to them, for the purpose of bartering their commodities for others which are either useful or ornamental. Had M. Bouguer offered them beads, hawks' bells, machetes, large knives, bows, arrows, or poison for their darts, he would have obtained their services.