Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-11-15
sOHE PERUVIAN VILLAGES.
WONDERFULLY RICH PLANTATIONS IN
THE FERTILE VALLEYS.
Vineyards and sugsr Haciendas-Condi-
ton of People Who Were Form
eriy slaves-Life Along Shore.
Especial Correspondence of the REcORD.UsIos. ]

| Especial Correspondence of the REcoRD-USIoS.l
PALPA, Peru, 1890.
The village of Pisco, which is situated
about one hundred miles south of Callao,
in the broad and fertile plain Of Canate, is
fair specimen of the coast towns of Peru.
Its charming little plaza is surrounded by
| pretentious cdsds of adobe, whose outer
| walls are tinted pale blue, pink, yellow or
| gray. The smaller dwellings of the poorer
| classes, who are principally negroes and
| half-breeds, are one-room novels of the
simplest construction. There are whole
streets where the houses on either side are
built of wild cane stuck upright in the
| ground, having cross-pieces tied on at in
tervals, without nail from top to bottom,
this wickerwork foundation being plastered
| with mud and rooted with straw. Though
generally windowless and often fioorless,
these poor adobes. being well whitewashed
| inside and out, present neat and cheerful
appearance; and over each doorway glass
lamp is suspended, rendering the streets
better lighted than those of many more
pretentious cities.
One side of the plaza is occupied by
very large and handsome church, built in
the Limenian style of architecture, which
| is a conspicuous landmark for vessels far
out at sea. Near by is the old chapel of
the Jesuit fathers, which possesses, among
other interesting relics of departed glory,
| a high altar, most deliberately carved and
heavily gilded. An avenue of willow trees
leads to the dilapidated FRANCISCAN monas-
| terry, which was suppressed nearly half a
| century ago by order of the Republican
government. For many years its cloisters
| have been deserted, its halls empty and its
''pleasure grounds" with their long lines
| of olive trees, allowed to run wild with
| weeds and thistles. The records tell US
| that this ancient garden was intended for a
place of religious contemplation, wherein
| the pious monks might enjoy communion
with nature as well as with their own souls
and combine pleasant exercise With their
evening prayers. We read that countless
doves once lived in the olive trees, which
were so tame that they were wont to alight
upon the shoulders Of the friars, when the
| latter were pacing to and fro ''ln the cool
of the day" reading or repeating their orr
sones. But doves and devotees long since
disappeared and not living thing is now
to be seen within the melancholy inclos-
ure, except an occasional zipolote, the foul
1-carrion crow of Peru, or turkey buzzard,
waiting for some dead thing to rend.
| This region used to be proverbially I'M
healthy, and the people of Peru suffered
much from malarial fever until ditch.
eight feet deep, was dug all around the
town, a few years ago, which has drained
| off the moisture and made it one of the
most salubrious towns on the coast. The
| plain of Canate is thirteen miles long and
extends in breadth from the cordilleras to
the sea. To the southwark are many small
swamps, where reeds are cultivated for
making the mating which supports the
straw roofs OF the houses; and then bar
rem bit, covered with stony mounds and
clumps of date palms, stretches away to
the desert. But to the north tits very
different. In the immediate vicinity of
Pisco are rich pastures for mules horses
and cattle; meadows of alfalfa tropical
clover and vegetable gardens, each field
surrounded by Indigenous of date palms,
olive, orange, fig and willow trees. Be
yound are purple vineyards and long
reaches of yellowish-green sugar-cane, each
estate separated from its neighbor by rows
Of willows.
The grapes grown hereabouts are as de-
licious as those of Southern France and
seem TO have absorbed the breath of the
near-by-sea, as well as the sunshine of per-
petual summer. Great quantities of wine
and brandy, called italia" and "Pisco,"
IL, Al
manufacture is the principal industry of
the valley. We visited the store-house of
the wine-maker and found it to contain
nearly thousand casks, each cask holding
three hundred gallons. l regret to say
that am unable to give you any figures,
having neglected to jot down in my note
book information received on the spot
but the amount of liquor made is marvel
Gus, considering the limited district, and
the value of the exports are in full proper
ton. "Italia" is the favorite white wine
of Peru, though much too strong for gen.
eral use, and "Pisco," though most in
nocent looking beverage, being colorless
as water, contains more intoXication to the
cubic inch than any other known liquid,
unless it may be the mescal of Mexico. |
There is a Portuguese here who produces
three distinct kinds of wine from the same
grape, one an excellent variety resembling
MADEIRA; another similar to the best
Bucellas; and a third much like the in
ferior Rhine Wines There is also very
fine and correspondingly expensive liquor
distilled from the large white grape,
favored with chirimoias, the latter being
the most delicious fruit to be found in the
tropics. All along the beach are immense
warehouses where the common ''Pisco" is
stored in huge red jars shaped much like
an egg shell, waiting shipment to the
various ports of Peru and Chile.
The estates of Canate are mostly Guilt
waited by negroes, assisted by few China
men. The negro population of these coast
valleys was originally imported from Porto
Bello, the great depot for the slave trade,
which was chiefly in the hands of English
merchants during the first century after
the conquest. 1t was old John Hawkins,
one of the naval heroes of Queen Eliza |
beth's reign, who first set up lucrative
business in African flesh and blood, be-
tween the coast of Sierra Leone and the |
Spanish colonies in America. 1.-The sins |
of the fathers shall be visited upon the |
children and retribution overlook the
pirates son; off the very vale of Canate,
which had then just began to receive car
goes of human merchandise. In 1894 Sir |
Richard Hawkins sailed from England in
a vessel which his mother (the wife of old |
john had quantity, but not inappropri-
atelv, named THE Repentance for she |
remembered the heartless avarice of her |
slave-dealing husband with shame and !
sorrow. Being buccaneer himself Sir |
Richard had come into these waters Oh a |
marauding expedition, when he was over
hauled by Spanish fleet in the Bay of
Pisco, and afterwards put to death. Again
in the year 1746 Canate suffered greatly |
from the attacks of the English, when
Arson came ashore and burnt the little
forth called Cerro Azul, and carved his |
name in big letters on the face Of the cliff, |