Farm of Vinto, Cattle, Grain, &c....First Wheat in Peru....Tapiales, Fences....Trees, Shrubs, and Plants....Fruit....Animal....Birds, Fish....Appearance of the Villages....Balsas....Indian Feast....Indian Burial....Paramonga....Palace or Fortalice.
On the side of the river opposite to Huaito I visited the farm of Vinto, which from the purposes to which it is dedicated may be considered as something like an English farm. Horned cattle are bred in considerable numbers; the cows rear the calves, and are seldom milked. Dr. Robertson speaks of a degeneration of animals in America, "in the Spanish colonies within the torrid zone, or bordering on it;" but he certainly was misinformed with respect to Peru; the cattle is not so large as in Lincolnshire, but, taking the average, it is as large as the English, French, and Spanish cattle: when fed on lucern the meat is well-flavoured, fat, and juicy, and the bones are very small. At Vinto great numbers of pigs are reared, and are said to pay very well. Barley is sown at a time which allows it to be in ear in the littering season, when the sows are turned on it, and remain until it is all eaten down: the young pigs are then separated from the old ones, and driven to a field of lucern, where they are kept till they are fit for market; this takes place when they are from ten to sixteen months old, at which age they sell at from six to nine dollars each, if of a good breed for fattening. Few sheep are bred on the coast, to which during some months of the year large flocks are driven from the interior, and fattened for the Lima market; many of these are ewes in-lamb, particularly those brought down in November and December; and the common bargain between the drover and the farmer is, to give the lambs for the pasturage, by which means the farmer obtains a sufficient number of sheep to supply him with mutton, calculating on receiving a hundred and fifty lambs for every hundred ewes. Besides this increase in sheep, which is greater than in England, the ewes bear twice a year in South America—in general the lambing season is in June and December.
The breed of horses and mules at Vinto was of little extent, but some of the latter were very good; the ordinary ones for carriers would sell for forty-five or fifty dollars each, while the prime mules would fetch a hundred or a hundred and fifty.
A considerable quantity of wheat is harvested at Vinto, as well as on the neighbouring farms and near the surrounding villages; it is sown and ploughed in, and irrigated three or sometimes four times during its growth; after it is cut, it is thrown into a heap, and the grain trodden out by horses; it is then cleared from the chaff, by throwing it up in the wind, as in Chile, and it generally yields from fifty to seventy-fold.
The first wheat was carried to Lima in the year 1535, by Doña Maria de Escobar, wife of Doñ Diego de Chares; the quantity consisted of but a few grains, which she cultivated herself. In the true spirit of the age and country, she invited all her friends to celebrate the first harvest of new wheat in the new world, not knowing that it had been produced in Mexico in 1528, by a negro slave belonging to Cortes, who accidentally found a few grains mixed among the rice which was supplied to the army. To commemorate the happy event in Lima, Doña Maria presented to each of her friends a few grains, and it is said that some ears were laid as an offering on the altar of the Dominican church. The first wheat at Quito was sown near to the Franciscan convent, by Father Jose Rixi, who carried his seed thither from Europe in a small earthen jar, which yet exists in the convent, and is exhibited to visitors; it is of baked clay, and will hold about a quart. Among the relics shown to me, in 1809, I admired none so much as this: a circumstance which rather disconcerted the pious sacristan who shewed them to me. The historian, I should think, must feel greater pleasure in recording the name of the individual who has promoted the welfare and contributed to the comforts of his fellow creatures, than in sounding the trumpet of fame to that of a hero whose glory reposes on the mangled bodies of thousands of his comrades, slaughtered to add a letter to the name of the victor, and not unfrequently to bind the chains of thraldom round the necks of the vanquished.
Maize, beans of five or six varieties, lentils, garbansos, camotes, yucas, and potatoes are cultivated by the farmer for home consumption, as well as for the Lima market; the slaves also grow the same articles, and on a Sunday take their produce to the neighbouring villages to sell.
The fields on these plantations and farms are generally divided by walls, called tapiales: these are formed of large square masses of clay or earth, sometimes mixed with stones, each being about four feet long, two thick, and two broad, and are called adobones; the walls are sometimes four and sometimes six feet high, being composed of two or three layers of adobones. They are made by laying a frame of wood on the ground, composed of two sides and one end, the sides being secured at the other by thongs of raw hide; the earth on one side the box or frame is then wetted with water, dug over once or twice, and put into the frame, adobera, where it is trodden hard, or beaten with a heavy rammer; more earth is thrown in, and again pressed down, until the frame is quite full, when the top is smoothed over with a wooden trowel and some water. The frame is removed by untying the thongs, which allows the sides of the adobera to open a little, and to separate freely from the adobon, which is smoothed with the trowel or hand with a little water; the frame is now placed with its open end to the adobon which is finished, and another is made and placed adjoining to it by the same process. When a second or third tier is raised, two pieces of plank or scantling are laid on the lower adobon, to support the frame, which is filled as before; the scantlings are then drawn out and the frame removed; the holes are sometimes filled up, and sometimes left open. When stones are mixed with the clay or earth they are usually placed along the sides of the frame, the centre being filled up with earth, to which cut straw is occasionally added, particularly when the soil is rather sandy. These fences are very durable; a ditch is formed on one or both sides, according to the will of the master, and the earth dug out serves to make the wall, and at the same time secures it from being undermined by the water, which would be injurious to the foundation. In those parts of Peru where it rains, small bundles of brush wood are put across the top of the tapial, and clay laid on them to prevent the rain from penetrating: if tiles were substituted they would answer much better.
I have been rather minute in describing these walls, being convinced that with a few improvements they would be found preferable to some fences used in England; indeed the easy method of building them deserves to be communicated to those who are in the habit of constructing fence walls instead of hedges, a common practice in our hilly countries. As a proof of their duration, many of these clay fences are now standing on the coast of Peru, and of those cased with stone in the interior, built more than three centuries ago, by the indians, before the Spaniards discovered their country.
The trees that afford any timber in this neighbourhood are the molle and espino, or huarango; from the latter excellent charcoal is made, and considerable quantities are carried to Lima. Senna is found in abundance in the hedges, and willows and poplars become very lofty. The indigo plant grows spontaneously in the fields; I have sometimes observed cochineal on the cactus, cultivated for its fruit, the prickly pear, but of an inferior quality; in the interior it is called pilcay, and from some cotton cloth which I have found in the huacas, it is evident that the ancient Peruvians were acquainted with its colouring principle, this as well as the indigo being among the fillets taken out of the huacas. They procure the yellow tint at present by steeping the berries of the molle in water, and afterwards a quantity of maize; wool dyed in this water takes a bright and permanent yellow. A tree of the mimosa tribe, called Tara, bears a quantity of pods which contain a large portion of tanin; ink is generally made from an infusion of these pods, by adding to it some sulphate of iron. The fragrant floripondio grows in many of the hedges, assisted by the odorous ñorbo, a small species of passion flower, which emits in the evening a most delightful fragrance. The prickly apple, holy thistle, and many other medicinal plants grow wild, with the virtues and applications of which the indians are well acquainted. The maguey is very common; it makes a good hedge, no animal daring to pass it, on account of the large prickles with which the point of each leaf is armed. It may be said, that this is one of the most useful plants at present known. Of the flower stalks the indians build their houses, and cover them with its large leaves; the fibrous part may be converted into thread and woven for clothing, while its sharp pointed prickles are a good substitute for needles. Before the flower stem makes its appearance, if the heart of the plant be cut out, and a hollow place made in the centre, it will be filled in ten or twelve hours with a thick syrup, which may be used instead of sugar; when this is mixed with water and fermented, it forms the favourite Mexican beverage pulque; of this juice vinegar may be made, or brandy distilled from it: if the leaves are bruised and pressed, they produce by boiling a balsamic syrup, used to cleanse and cure ulcers; the leaves are also used instead of soap: the clothes are wetted, and then beaten with a leaf which has been crushed; a thick white froth is produced, and after rincing, the clothes are quite clean. The flower buds are very delicate eating when boiled or pickled. Of the aloes this is the largest species; here are two varieties, the leaves of the one being of a deep green inclining to black, while those of the other are of a beautiful pale green; the latter is the more useful of the two varieties.