Note 376 — Chapter LXXIII

The plain of Chilca is a broad sandy waste, with a thin line of vegetation running from the Andes to the sea. The village is a collection of cane flat-roofed houses, with a handsome church. It is about two miles from the beach, where there is an abrupt headland called Chilca Point. There are none of the maize fields described by Cieza de Leon, and the land is no longer manured with sardine heads, but there are several palm and fig trees, and holes where crops of reeds, for making matting to cover the house tops, are raised. A little scanty herbage grows on the sand hills, where mules and donkeys graze. The inhabitants of Chilca are all pure Indians, and they allow no whites to reside in their village. They employ themselves in plaiting straw for hats and cigar cases of great beauty. In the time of the Yncas this valley was very populous, as is clear from the numerous ruins in various directions; but Spanish occupation has acted as a blight on every corner of this once happy land.