"'Tis the festival of Simon and Jude,
And the lake rages for its sacrifice."
[39] Rimac is the present participle of rimay, to speak, to prattle. The river and the valley were known by this name among all the ancient Indians. The oracle of a temple with an idol, which stood in the neighborhood of the present city of Lima, conferred the name. It is said that before the time of the Incas persons suspected of magic were banished to the valley of the Rimac, on which account it obtained the name of Rimac-malca, that is, the Witches-valley. This account, which is given by some early travellers, requires farther historical and philological inquiry, before its correctness can be admitted.
[40] The Quichua language has no word for potatoe, but in the Chinchayauyo language, which is spoken along the whole coast of Peru, the potatoe is called Acsu.
CHAPTER VIII.
Robbers on the coast of Peru—The Bandit Leaders Leon and Rayo—The Corps of Montoneros—Watering Places near Lima—Surco, Atte and Lurin—Pacchacamac—Ruins of the Temple of the Sun—Difficulties of Travelling on the Coast of Peru—Sea Passage to Huacho—Indian Canoes—Ichthyological Collections—An old Spaniard's recollections of Alexander Von Humboldt—The Padre Requena—Huacho—Plundering of Burial Places—Huaura—Malaria—The Sugar Plantation at Luhmayo—Quipico—Ancient Peruvian Ruins—The Salinas, or Salt Pits—Gritalobos—Chancay—The Piques—Mode of extracting them—Valley of the Pasamayo—Extraordinary Atmospheric Mirrors—Piedras Gordas—Palo Seco.
All the inhabited parts of the coast of Peru, especially the districts adjacent to Lima and Truxillo, are infested by robbers, and travelling is thereby rendered extremely unsafe. These banditti are chiefly runaway slaves (simarrones, as they are called), free negroes, zambos, or mulattos. Occasionally they are joined by Indians, and these latter are always conspicuous for the cruelties they perpetrate. Now and then a white man enters upon this lawless course; and, in the year 1839, a native of North America, who had been a purser in a ship of war, was shot in Lima for highway robbery. These robbers are always well mounted, and their fleet-footed steeds usually enable them to elude pursuit. It is no unfrequent occurrence for slaves belonging to the plantations to mount their masters' finest horses, and after sunset, when their work is over, or on Sundays, when they have nothing to do, to sally forth on marauding expeditions.
Most of the highway robbers who infest the coast of Peru belong to an extensive and systematically-organized band, headed by formidable leaders, who maintain spies in the towns and villages, from whom they receive regular reports. They sometimes prowl about in parties of thirty or forty, in the vicinity of the capital, and plunder every traveller they encounter; but they are most frequently in smaller detachments. If they meet with resistance they give no quarter; therefore, it is most prudent to submit to be plundered quietly, even when the parties attacked are stronger than the assailants, for the latter usually have confederates at no great distance, and can summon reinforcements in case of need. Any person who kills a robber in self-defence must ever afterwards be in fear for his own life: even in Lima the dagger of the assassin will reach him, and possibly at the moment when he thinks himself most safe.
Foreigners are more frequently waylaid than natives. Indeed, the rich and influential class of Peruvians are seldom subjected to these attacks,—a circumstance which may serve to explain why more stringent police regulations are not adopted.