About three leagues to the south of Huacho are the salinas, or plains of salt. This natural production is covered with sand, in some places thicker than in others; under this is a stratum of solid salt, from eight to twelve inches thick. For the purpose of taking it up, it is marked out into square pieces, by chopping it gently with an axe; a bar of iron is then introduced underneath the salt, and the squares are turned over to dry; beneath the solid salt the ground is quite soft and rather watery, which allows the salt to separate from the bed with much facility. After three years have expired, the salt is again in a state to be cut; and from this small plain, which is not more than five miles square, salt enough is extracted for the consumption of the greater part of Peru and Chile. It is carried into the interior on the backs of mules, and to different places on the coast by shipping, for which there is an excellent port called de las Salinas, though some go to that of Huacho, which is not so commodious.
CHAPTER XVI.
Villa of Huaura....Description....Village of Supe....Ruins of an Indian Town....Huacas, Burying Places....Bodies preserved entire....Village of Barranca....Earthquake in 1806....Barranca River....Bridge of Ropes....Village of Pativilca....Sugar Plantation....Produce and Profit....Cane cultivated....Mills....Sugar-house....Management of Slaves....Regulations, &c. of Slaves.
Two leagues to the northward of Huacho is the villa or town of Huaura; it consists of one long street and about two thousand inhabitants, some of whom are respectable creole families; it has a parish church, a convent of Franciscan friars, and a hospital. Owing to the situation of this town, having a range of high hills between it and the sea, and which keep off the sea breeze, it is very sultry; to this circumstance a cutaneous disease is attributed, which leaves a bluish mark on the skin. It is most prevalent among the mulattos; and on those negroes who are affected by it a stain is left which is almost white, and is called by the natives carati.
Near to Huaura is a plantation, the ingenio, formerly belonging to the Jesuits; here the cane is crushed by cylinders put in motion by a water wheel, which is said to be the first ever constructed in Peru.
A very handsome brick bridge of one arch, the centre of which was forty-seven yards above the bed of the river, and the span twenty-six yards wide, was erected at the entrance of the town; it was thrown down by an earthquake on the 1st of December, 1806, and the old wooden bridge, which had formerly a redoubt to guard it, has been repaired.
The English pirate Edward David took Huaura and sacked it in 1685, putting to death the alcalde de la hermandad, Don Bias Carrera, whom he had made his prisoner; this so terrified the inhabitants that they immediately abandoned the town, nor could they be persuaded to avail themselves of the drunken state of the sailors during the night to revenge the injuries they had suffered; they were fearful of being captured and treated in the same manner as their alcalde. The charter of villa was taken from the town by the King, but afterwards restored.
The valley of Huaura extends about twelve leagues to the eastward, and contains many excellent farms, plantations of sugar cane, and about three thousand slaves.