Etén, the next port, 161 miles farther south, the ship is likely to reach the next morning. An iron pier 2000 feet long is noticeable, though a good distance away. Callao is the only seaport below Panama having docks which may be approached by large ships. The slope of the beaches is so gradual that even for the use of the lighters long piers are necessary. Etén has an especially poor anchorage, an open roadstead where there is often a moderate swell, so that the passing traveler seldom goes ashore. Frequently passengers must be taken on board by means of a sort of barrel or hogshead destitute of one side. One person sits, another stands on the edge. Thus they are raised with windlass, chain, and pulley, and gently deposited on deck.
Pacasmayo, 34 miles farther, is usually visited the same day. This is quite a town with a railroad running 85 miles up country, some day to be prolonged to Cajamarca, now rather difficult of access.
The coast presents for the most part a study in browns, diversified by occasional patches of green, the size of which varies with that of the stream coming down from the mountains and the extent of irrigation in the valley. The great mountain range is surprisingly near the sea. There are indeed foothills, and in the northern and southern sections of Peru, back of the high bluffs which generally line the coast, a plain stretches away to lofty mountains. These, however, are near enough to be always in sight if it were not for another peculiarity of this rainless coast, the low clouds or mist which too often conceal or obscure them. Along the central portion of Peru beginning with Salaverry, the mountains come down to the shore in many bold headlands and are sometimes so disposed as to present an appearance of several ranges of varying altitudes, the rearmost, a frowning almost perpendicular black wall, which, back of Chimbote and Samanco, rises to the extraordinary height of 15,000 to 18,000 feet. Barely, a snow-crowned summit is there seen peeping over a depression in the Black Range, the north peak of the great Huascarán, 21,812 feet above the sea, first ascended in 1908 by Miss Annie S. Peck with two Swiss guides. At present Huascarán is called the second highest measured mountain in America, but it is far more difficult to climb than Aconcagua, now holding first place. Had one a clear view of these great ranges, the voyage to the mountain lover would be of real fascination. As it is, the long halts at the various ports to discharge and receive freight become a trifle monotonous. Possibly, after the opening of the Canal, there will be through service with direct express to Callao from Panama.
CHAPTER VII
SALAVERRY—CHAN CHAN—CHIMBOTE—THE HUAILAS VALLEY
Salaverry, 66 miles from Pacasmayo, is usually reached during the night. At this port a few tourists may be tempted to disembark, perhaps with two objects in view; one to visit the ancient city of Chan Chan, the flourishing city of Trujillo, and the great sugar plantations of the valley; the other, for the purpose of transferring to the caletero boat, in order to land at Chimbote or Samanco, thence to visit the Huailas Valley to admire its magnificent scenery, including the peerless Huascarán. By taking at Panama the Sunday steamer (fortnightly) of the Peruvian Line, one may land at Chimbote or Samanco without change.
Salaverry, with one or two hundred houses on the desert shore, is a port merely, near a bold bluff which helps to make a fair harbor. A great quantity of sugar from the Chicama and Santa Catalina Valleys is the chief export.
Trujillo, eight miles by rail from the harbor, is a pretty city of 10,000 people. Founded by Pizarro in 1535 near the ruined capital of the Grand Chimu, it is one of the most aristocratic of Peruvian cities. First among these to proclaim independence, December 22, 1820, the Department received from Bolívar the name La Libertad. Trujillo possesses a pretty shaded plaza, fashionable for the evening promenade, several convents, and interesting churches, one of which, the San Augustín, is noteworthy on account of the excellent carving and rich gilding of the pulpit and high altar. It has a hospital, a university, a club, a hippodrome, a theater, and three daily papers; also, most important to the traveler, a respectable but far from luxurious hotel providing rooms, while fair meals may be procured at a Chinese restaurant close by.
Sugar Estates. Well worth a visit are the splendid sugar estates up the Chicama Valley, Casa Grande, Roma, Cartavio, and others. The first, an hour by rail from Trujillo, is said to be the largest sugar plantation in the world, containing a total population of 11,000, one-fourth of which is engaged in labor in the fields or mills. This valley, which in the time of the Grand Chimu supported a great population, was in the last century almost a barren desert up to 1873, when a German visiting the valley discovered the ancient irrigating canal, bought up land, and soon made the desert blossom as the rose. This valley produces more sugar than the entire island of Porto Rico, sugar of the finest quality. In the temperate, equable climate, the cane all along the coast matures early, is unusually rich in sugar, and may be cut all the year around. It may be raised at a profit if sold at 1½ cents a pound. The estates have the best of machinery, and expert managers who employ the latest and the most approved methods. Churches, schools, and hospitals are provided. The dwellings of the proprietors and superintendents contain most of the conveniences and luxuries of modern life, including telephones. The annual export of sugar from Salaverry amounts to 50,000 tons, and from Huanchacho near by to half as much more. Within 30 miles of Salaverry are also rich copper and silver mines, far more accessible than those on the plateau region above, and with a more agreeable climate. Their development on a large scale will not long be delayed.
Chan Chan. The tourist who is not a possible investor or looking after commercial interests may rather turn his attention to the great ruins north of Trujillo on the road to the small seaport, Huanchacho. Every one interested in antiquities should visit the ruins of Chan Chan, the largest and most important of the dead cities on our western coast. For a good pedestrian it is a moderate walk from Trujillo, though a horse may well serve the majority. Here the Grand Chimu once ruled over the twenty northern valleys of the Peruvian coast, from Tumbes on the north to Supe, well towards the Rimac valley on the south. Here was a civilization entirely distinct from that of the Incas, unhappily overthrown by them some four generations before the Conquest by Pizarro. A fertile plain 90 miles long was watered from three rivers by a remarkable system of irrigation. An aqueduct tapping the Muchi River high up in the mountains carried water across the valley on an embankment 60 feet high. Remains of a great reservoir between Trujillo and Casa Grande indicate a capacity, of two billion cubic feet of water. The city itself, open to the sea, was protected on the east from land invaders by a thick and lofty wall extending for miles along its borders. That it was at last compelled to succumb to the Incas is believed to be because these succeeded in diverting the water supply.