Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-11-22
RAIHLESS REGIONS.
ALTERNATE FERTILITY AND ARID
DESOLATI0N.
An Ancient system of Irrigation, Than
Which Better Has Never Been
Discovered Inca Remains.

1
little oasis, surrounded on all sides by
desert sands, is in the midst of most in
teresting region. First we paid visit to
San Xavier, one of the finest estates on
the ocean-side of Peru, which lies about
twelve miles from Palpa, beyond range
of low and sandy hills.
| In former times San Xavier belonged to
the Jesuits, as did also the plantations of
Yea and Canate and all their property was
worked by negro slaves. In those days
this one vineyard produced never less than
10000 arrobos of liquor per annum, which
sold for from five to seven dollars the ar
roba, the present price being only two dol
lars. 1t was under the highest possible
state of cultivation and enormously valu-
able when seized by the colonial authori-
ties in 1867, by order of the Spanish Vice
roy Amanda; but since that death blow its
productiveness has steadily decreased and
few years ago it was purchased from the
! Government by Senior Don Domingo Elias,
gentleman famous in Peru for owning
pretty much all this part of the country.
| The San Xavier manor house is large
and well furnished, with apartments as
long and lofty as SO many public halls,
surrounded by a stone corridor whose
massive columns support series of round
arches. On one side are extensive wine
presses and store-rooms, and on the other
a handsome old church which was built
by the Jesuits about the middle of the
last century. There is some remarkably
fine wood carving on the pulpit and affairs
of this now seldom-seen sanctuary, while a
score of old portraits of fathers of the
Order in splendid gilt frames add an air of
grandeur to the place.
| Thirty miles south of this estate, over
rocky hills and arid sands, lies the valley
of Nasca, which descends from the Sierras
by an easy slope and gradually widens as
it approaches the sea. This place is inter-
esting only on account of its peculiar mode
of irrigation. Though covered with rich
! haciendas, yielding marvellous crops of
grapes, cotton, corn, sugar-cane, melons,
potatoes and all kinds of fruits and vege-
tables, nature has provided nothing for its
watering in a region where rain never
falls, except tiny river which is dry dur
ing abont eleven months of the year. But
!
the aboriginal Indians the lovely valley
rounding deserts. Long before the arrival
of the destroying Spaniards they had con-
tended with the arid obstacles and exc
cnted work here which is almost I'M
equaled in the history of irrigation.
Cutting deep trenches along the whole
length of the valley, they extended them
so high up into the mountains that TO this
day the inhabitants do not know how far
] they were carried. The main trenches,
known as puquioS in the language OF the
Incas, are at the upper end of the valley,
and each is about four feet deep, the sides
and roof lined with cemented stones
| These descending branch off into smaller
puquios which ramify all over the valley in
every direction, plentifully supplying every
| farm with pure, cool mountain water and
feeding the little bitches that irrigate and
| fertilize the soil. The main trenches are
several feet below the surface, and at in
teryals of about 200 yards there are ejos, or
small holes, by which workmen NAV 90
down into the vault and clear away any OBJ
struction. Diverging in every direction
the puquios often cross one another, and by
| the time they have reached the southern
limit of vegetation every drop of water
has been exhausted. In the valley of
Nasca no fewer than fifteen extensive vine
yards and cotton plantations are thus
watered by artificial means, end at Ala
small mill for cleansing the cotton is also
turned from the bitches of the Incas.
Going little nearer to the sea, one
comes to the most profitable cotton estates
in Peru, named respectively "Lacra" and
''San JOSE" Both contain mills propelled
by water, with machinery for separating
the seed, and presses for packing the cot
ton. The product is all sent to Lomas, a
little port that has 5een opened expressly
for it across thirty or more miles of desert.
1t goes on muleback, each animal carrying
two bales, weighing It's pounds apiece.
The cotton is then piled on a large raft,
which is launched in the heavy surf and
so brought alongside the waiting vessel.
Not less than 10000 quintals Of it are an
nually shipped here from San Jose and
Lacra alone. A few miles from the little
port, the mysterious Cerro de las Bruxas,
or Chill of the Witches" rises abruptly in
the midst of the desert. Among many
blood-curdling traditions connected with
this Cerro that are kept alive through
generation after generation of supersti-
tious Indians, concerning bloody spectres
and headless spooks that wave their hands
to warn intruders away-is one of an old
man, named ''Don Manuel" living ghost
who, having several murders on his con-
science, came to live on Witches Hill,
and used to run about in the dead of
night, screaming as if pursued by de-
mons.
On the side of one of the mountains
that overhang Nasca are some aboriginal
ruins which are well worth visiting. A
lane, shaded by orange and fig trees, leads
up from the modern town to the ancient
city of the dead, near the long.deserted
gold mine of Cerro Blanco. 1t was built
in terraces on the steep hillside, near the
southern edge of the valley. The walls
are all of stones; unlike most of the ruins
in this part of Peru, the houses were large,
and many Of the spacious rooms seem to
haze been surrounded by queer little
inches, each doorless closet Just large
enough to hold traditional skeleton. On
an isolated hill, perhaps artificial, precisely
in the middle of the main group of ruins,
was the fortress, whose massive walls, part
of which are still standing, inclose what
was evidently vast palace or temple.
Such picture of hopeless desolation it
would be hard to find elsewhere, but the
view from the parapet wall is striking.
Not sign of animal life is seen, and the
silence Of the grave prevails. The valley
below looks like broad green river, wind
ing its way through sandy deserts to the
sea; and eastward the Andes tower in ma
iestic grandeur one above another till
their snowy SUBMITS reech the sky. There
are no traditions of the place beyond the
historical fact that this valley in common
with the rest of them, from Pisco down to
the dominions of the great China, were
first subjugated by the Incas in the time
of Pachacutec. whose son, the renowned