THE MARKET PLACE AT CATACAOS.
Although the native cotton commands the highest price, and is cultivated with least labor on the plantations of Piura, yet the Egyptian variety also yields good returns for the capital and labor invested, and its culture constitutes an important source of revenue to the state. The Egyptian grows to a height of about four feet and under favorable conditions lives three or four years. It has an abundant foliage, with blossoms that deepen from a pale yellow to red as they grow into full bloom. The cotton boll is formed of five carpels, or leaves, and the fruit, when it bursts forth from this enclosure, is white and smooth, in contrast to the Peruvian, which is of a pink color, and, as already stated, extremely rough. The culture of Egyptian cotton has increased in favor within recent years, in consequence of the advanced prices in foreign markets. In Mallares and Saman, especially, this variety is produced with important results. One of the advantages which it enjoys is freedom from the “blight,” which at times invades other varieties, and the fact that the arrebiatado does not attack it. Also, the Egyptian yields a harvest six months after planting, so that it is comparatively easy to secure credit for the outlays necessary to produce the crop. In the cultivation of this variety, it is necessary to irrigate the land several times during the season, but it flourishes with little labor, and is easily harvested.
A railway, sixty miles in length, connects the cotton-growing centres with the chief seaport of the department, Paita, where all the vessels engaged in trade on the west coast of South America make regular calls. The harbor is visited several times a week by passenger and cargo steamers of English, North American, German, and South American lines and by sailing ships flying the flags of all nations. Here the cotton bales are transferred from the freight car to the ship’s hold to be carried to foreign ports; and Paita presents an animated scene while the cargo is being loaded. The railway extends from the port northward till it reaches the Chira valley, which it ascends as far as Sullana, an important cotton market, after which it turns southward, following the valley of the Piura to the state capital and, five miles beyond, to Catacaos, in the heart of the cotton region. Along its route are many thriving towns and villages, which owe their existence chiefly to the cotton industry, though this is by no means the only important product of the department.
Panamá hats—which are not made in Panamá at all, and which, in Ecuador and Peru, where this industry flourishes, are called jipi-japa (pronounced “hippy-happa”), from the name of the fibre used in their manufacture—are made in Catacaos. The finest hats are woven with great care, the fibre being kept under water during the process and never exposed to the sun until the hat is finished. On all the passenger steamers that call at Paita, venders of these hats may be seen bargaining with travellers, and the sales amount to large sums, as the most ordinary Panamá hat, when purchased from the weavers themselves, costs at least a pound sterling. The imitation of this article has been so successfully manufactured that the trade is greatly injured thereby, though it is said, on the other hand, that the genuine jipi-japa is increasing in value, owing to its scarcity on the market.
Like other coast departments, Piura extends inland to the valleys of the Amazon headwaters, and includes in its territory not only the cotton fields of the coast, but the mines of the sierra, the pastures of the uplands, and the coffee, tobacco, and sugar-cane of the Montaña. The province of Ayabaca has gold mines, forests in which the valuable Peruvian bark is found, pastures for cattle and sheep, and plantations of coffee and sugar-cane. In the district of Frias, every town is a rose garden, and bee-keeping is a flourishing industry. Huancabamba is a rich field for cattle-raising, and is especially noted for the superior wool of its sheep, the fleece of which is black, long, and of silky texture. In its lower valleys are cultivated tobacco, coffee, and sugar-cane. In the provinces of Paita and Piura are vast saline fields, beds of saltpetre, pitch deposits, and important petroleum wells.
With the completion of the proposed railway from Paita to the head of navigation on the Marañon, by which communication will be established between the extensive region of the Montaña and the Pacific coast, this department will become one of the most important highways of traffic in the republic. With its abundant resources and healthful climate, there is every reason to expect great development in wealth and population. At present the population of Piura, which covers a territory of about fifteen thousand square miles, is a little more than two hundred thousand.
A “BALSA” LOADED WITH FREIGHT, PAITA.