The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1893-08-04
EXTRAORDINARY COTTON.
PERU ngc-y. -. n VARIETY OF
NATURAL CoLORS.
Tho Remarkable Fleecy Staple OF the
Piura-It is w==..ervd Only Once
in Seven Years-Treo Cotton.

/ I'm Seven Years-Tree Cotton.
| "YHE discovery of new and nat.
| ~ ural sources Of wealth In Peru
Is an unending wonder. From
the day in.1631 when Pizarro
entered the Bay of Psita, that delight
full land has presented tho --c-::t.: ..u
! in---....va in-----.....va procession Of revelations
extending along three and half CEN
turies OF it's modern history.
Green fields covered the coast plains
under the benign influence of the Inca
rule, which devised the economy OF ir-
rigation and impressed the discoverers
| witS q sense OF the wealth and beauty
| aS'he land now become q bald, gray
storlle waste, but showing here and
there brilliant spot of verdure in the
midst of the general aridity.
The lands of the Piura lie four to
| five degrees south of the equator, and
once in seven years are visited by floods
| that wet narrow belt along the banks
| whereby some 1909 acres are made
/ available for cultivation, all of which
is now appropriated to cotton. This
one voting gives five crops, two per
year, and then the land rests to finish
the cycle of seven years and another
succession of five crops. The waters
of the Piura continue to flow until
some time in October, when the people
who live in the valley begin To sink
wells in the sands of the river bottom
for their dnily supply. The disap'
penrancc of the river is so gradual it is
not possible to designate the day when
it takes place. Not 80, however, its
arrival, in February or March, when
tho bed of the stream has been dry for
months and has been occupied by truck
gardens.
Then the people become thirsty for
thc river. Every traveller from up the
valley is questioned ns to whcro the
river was when he passed If h" report
that il Is coming crowd of eager list
cncrs and qucstioncrs surround him ~
if he brought important news from
rome fcrciGn loan commission; nnd
naturally enough, for Tho condition of
the river, whether it contains much or
little water, is the prophecy of n years
crop At last, Gru"rnlly about the
middle of February, one hears thnt the
river is twenty icn%u's away and liz
| coming " few days Inter 1T IL only ten
| leagues distant, nnd ns it passes the
upper hacicndns the iudinus turn out
md welcome 1t with drum aud fife md
| fire rockets.
Sometimes there comes disappoint-
mcnt for wh"n it seems II sure thing
and tho people of the city of Piurn in
| tho lower valley have begun to look
for it the river has ceased t" flow =; 1t
sinks away in the sands and they sny,
"rho river hrS gone buck. This,
however, will Inst but few days.
Again it comes and we hcmr in Piurn
that "Thc river is but II league away
and will hr with us to-day" Then
every horse and saddle is brought ont
and the people leave the city to meet
the messenger of glad tidings, %
health and riches to the arid land.
In NIL the year there is not in the
north of Peru n feast to equal this
No fatigue il felt by tho multitudes
who travel through the heavy sands
sou,G Oh foot, some on donkoys-pool
Drutcs, most patient of all created
beings CARRYING two or three grown
men and women with small family of
hnlf-yrown children; others again nre
mounted on mules and then tho Gilt,
on horses. All are glad When you
meet the river it is II little tricklinp
strcamlct running here and there in
search of the lowest places; it stops t.
fill the wells in its rond that were cN'
cavatcd last season, and then runs for
ward in the same little rill. A short
distance farther up you will find II re-
spcctnblc stream, whcrc the boys and
dogs run into it and lio down and
rcvcl, and in II little time cnn swim. III
is for everybody " season of real joy,
nnd with many II carnival of frolic.
The spectacle of its approach wit
messed from the Bridge of Piurn ia u
wonderful sight. You see the pioneers
OF the marching host como slowly
around bend of the river Mt the up
per edge OF tho town, followed shortly
by the surging army of thousands III
people; YOU hear the music of the
band, tho murmur of five thousand
voices and the din of rockets which
throw smoking line along the air.
The river has come!
1t has reached the bridge in the
carly evening and the band plays whil,
the people dance on and under tn,
bridge all night long, or ns long rs tn,
| u o''' WI l.
out to escort the river to Piura, it il
met by more than 1900 ut Catacaos
nh Indian pueblo six miles lower down
the stream.
The cotton produced in the valley
of the iiuru shows varying shades from
II rich dark brown to the purcst white
so finely graded TINT ono can scarcely
tell where one color ends and tn,
other begins At the present time tn,
cultivnblc area is SO small that the de.
mands of the market cannot be met.
BY the system proposed it liz hoped tc
get more than II million acres of tn,
fertile territory under the care of il
rigatinn, when not only cotton, bu
sugar, coffee, cocoon, indigo, all tn,
/ vegetables and fruits of the tropics cui
be grown as they were centuries ago
The appearance ola Peruvian cOttol
field may we'll nstonIsh an American
planter, for i'll the five years of it,
| h,, ,,In