The old and the new Peru

by Marie Robinson Wright

Trujillo has a theatre, a hippodrome, and social clubs, the Club de La Libertad being an important organization which directs the amusements and festivals held every season in the Park of La Libertad, the most beautiful paseo of Trujillo, and one of the finest parks in Peru. The Central Club, the leading social organization of the city, counts among its members many prominent men of the department. The press is represented by three daily newspapers—of which La Industria is the largest—and a number of monthly periodicals. The Torch and The Shoemaker, both labor journals, are an expression of the interest taken by the workingmen in the affairs of the day. A novel enterprise is the publication of an illustrated almanac of three hundred pages, called El Mercurio, devoted to a description of the Department of La Libertad, its history, government, schools, and industrial development, and issued at the publisher’s cost, in the interests of his commercial house and as a propaganda of the department.

Two widely different attractions claim the attention of all visitors to Trujillo,—the wonderful archæological ruins and the famous Chicama Valley. Between the city and the sea extend the crumbling walls of Chan-Chan and the Huacas of Moche, while northward, after a railway journey of less than an hour, the traveller enters the blooming gardens and green-mantled fields of a country overflowing with the bounties of a perennial harvest. Chan-Chan covers a desert tract about fifty square miles in circumference less than a league north of the capital, and just beyond the little Indian village of Mansiche, on the road to the seaport Huanchaco. It is said that rich treasure lies buried somewhere under the modest little cluster of huts named Mansiche in honor of a great cacique of the place. But one hears constantly of buried treasure in Trujillo. The peje chica and the peje grande—“little fish” and the “big fish”—are magic words to those who understand. Every traveller who possesses an imagination susceptible to the influence of mystery and tradition must succumb to the glittering charm of the peje chica, and feel the gold-hunter’s enthusiasm when brought into the realm of the peje grande. As the horses jog along the road that leads from the city to the ruins, visions of hidden treasure throw a glamour over the most commonplace scenes, and every mound by the roadside is an object of curiosity as a possible repository for treasure. It is a matter of history that soon after the Conquest a vast fortune was unearthed at Chan-Chan, of which the king’s fifth amounted to a million dollars in value, this treasure being known as the peje chica. One version of the story tells that the cacique of Mansiche, who had observed with particular attention the kindness of a young Spaniard toward the people of the conquered race, and had noticed also that he was very poor, revealed the secret of the hiding-place of the peje chica, on condition that a portion of the wealth should be used to advance the interests of the Indians. The most valuable article discovered was in the form of a fish, of solid gold, and so large that the Spaniards considered it a rare prize; but the cacique assured his young friend that it was only the “little fish” and that a much greater treasure existed in the “big fish,” worth many times the value of this one. The sequel to the story is that the Spaniard forgot his promise, went off to Spain and spent all his gold, and was returning to get the peje grande, of which he made great boasts, when he was thrown from his horse and killed. From that day to the present, treasure hunters have dug into the huacas of Chan-Chan and Moche with faith and persistence,—but without finding the peje grande. Many interesting relics of the ancient civilization have been unearthed, and the present prefect of Trujillo, Dr. Carlos Velarde, has accomplished a notable work in the excavation of the great wall of Chan-Chan, covered with carvings of fishes, turtles, pelicans, and other animals of the seashore. Dr. Max Uhle is now engaged in making excavations at Chan-Chan and at Moche, the latter offering a study of much archæological importance in its “Huaco del Sol.”

A LOAD OF CANE READY FOR THE FACTORY.

MAIN ENTRANCE TO A SUGAR HACIENDA NEAR TRUJILLO.

Moche is an Indian town situated midway between Trujillo and the port of Salaverry, to the south. Its inhabitants preserve their primitive costumes, and wear a distinctive dress, the women’s garb consisting of a chemise and a single piece of dark blue cloth wrapped round the body and fastened at the waist, reaching to the ankles. The municipal ordinance forbids the wearing of this costume in the city, but at Moche it is everywhere seen. The Moche Indians never intermarry with other races, and they are as proud of their unmixed pedigree as any “belted earl.” They are an intelligent people, and the women are graceful and ready-witted. Recently, two North American ladies were being shown the sights of Trujillo, when their cicerone drew attention to a Moche girl riding by on a donkey, evidently on her way to Moche. Seeing that she was an object of interest, she smiled and bowed with the nonchalance of a court belle, and asked the ladies’ escort, “Gringas?” As the amusement of the strangers told that they understood this patronymic to apply to themselves, she hastened to add, hospitably, “Bring them to Moche!”

It is impossible to imagine a more complete transition than is made when one leaves the enchanted realm of the peje grande for the varying sights and scenes of the Chicama valley. It is necessary to visit the former in order to appreciate the full significance of the latter. Everything around Chan-Chan is a temptation to live on dreams, to try one’s luck at treasure hunting, or to dig huacas in the hope of getting a rare specimen for some archæological museum. The Chicama valley affords proof that there are richer treasures in its fertile fields than Chan-Chan ever had in hiding, and no uncertainty exists as to their location. Its area is about a hundred square leagues, drained by the Chicama River, which rises in the province of Otuzco, Department of La Libertad, and flows into the Pacific. On its great plantations, sugar-cane is grown that reaches a height of from twenty to twenty-five feet, containing more than fourteen per cent of sugar. The broad estates of Casa Grande, Roma, Cartavio, and others, are crossed by private railways which carry the cane from the fields to the mills; and the entire valley has direct communication with the port of Salaverry by means of the state railway, now under the administration of the Peruvian Corporation. From the port, the main line passes through Moche, Trujillo (eight miles from Salaverry), and crossing the desert pampa with one stop only at the station of La Cumbre, enters the valley at the town of Chicama, twenty miles north of the capital. About a mile above this point, after passing Chiclín, the train crosses an immense iron bridge, about three thousand feet long, over the Chicama River. The route then lies entirely through the district of the sugar lands, the principal stations being Chocope, Constancia Junction, Casa Grande Junction, Facalá, and the terminal station of Ascope, fifty miles from Salaverry. From all these stations, private railways connect with the sugar plantations. The Hacienda of Roma is connected directly with the port of Huanchaco by a private line, making an extension of thirty-five miles. This immense property, like the estates of Casa Grande and Cartavio, embraces many thousands of acres and supports large communities of working people. Life presents a very pleasant picture on these large plantations, where a good climate, healthful labor, comfortable homes and ample provision for their needs contribute to make the employés contented and happy. Churches, schools, and hospitals are provided, and on some plantations there are free libraries, and night classes are taught for the benefit of those who work during the day. Telephones connect the haciendas with Trujillo, and, as most of them are situated within a couple of hours’ ride by railway from that city, constant communication is maintained. The Casa Grande Company owns one of the most important sugar estates of the Chicama valley, covering nearly two hundred thousand acres of land, and supports a population of about five thousand, most of the number living in the vicinity of Casa Grande. The machinery used in the sugar factory of this hacienda is of the most modern manufacture, equal to the best in existence for the purpose. Electricity is used for lighting, the hacienda having a dynamo for two hundred lights of sixteen candle-power and a motor of twenty-five horse-power. The new system of crushing and elaborating the cane in the factory of Casa Grande is so complete that the process follows automatically from the unloading of the cars as they arrive from the fields, to the filling of the sacks with sugar, ready for market. Not only in the factory, but in the fields, modern machinery is used, and agricultural implements of the best manufacture are employed. This is true of Roma and Cartavio as well as Casa Grande. The resident managers of these haciendas enjoy every comfort that a well-ordered establishment can provide, and they entertain with generous hospitality.

THE CHAPEL OF A HACIENDA AT GALINDO.