Trujillo, Peru

“ North and east are the ruins of an old Indian city commonly known as the Grand Chimu, together with extensive aqueducts and reservoirs. The city is partly enclosed by an old adobe wall built in 1686, and its buildings are in great part also constructed of adobe. The public institutions include a university, two national colleges, one of which is for girls, an episcopal seminary, a hospital and a theatre.
Trujillo was once an important commercial centre and the metropolis of northern Peru, but the short railways running inland from various ports have taken away its commercial importance. ”

“ Following the airway down the coast, Terry had no difficulty in reaching the town of Trujillo in the northern part of Peru, at which point she was to turn inland to Majora, a settlement of adobe houses and stores, the center of supply for a number of mines in the mountains.
Over an early breakfast at Trujillo, their spirits rose once more. The trip inland was not far and they should reach the foothills in an hour.
“South America is different from what I expected,” remarked Terry, as she drank her breakfast coffee. “I thought that most of this country was jungles and tropical vegetation. ”

“ The night schools of Trujillo are worthy of emulation in every city of Peru. Not only is manual training given, but lessons in bookkeeping, etc., are taught, and classes are instructed in the English language, which is regarded as of especial importance because of its usefulness in a commercial career. The Railway Society of Mutual Protection, the Employés’ Union of the Department of La Libertad and similar societies are doing a great work for the improvement of conditions among the clerks and other working people of the capital. ”

“ Trujillo has a theatre, a hippodrome, and social clubs, the Club de La Libertad being an important organization which directs the amusements and festivals held every season in the Park of La Libertad, the most beautiful paseo of Trujillo, and one of the finest parks in Peru. The Central Club, the leading social organization of the city, counts among its members many prominent men of the department. ”

“ Their civilization also gives evidence, in the ornamented pottery, the carvings of intricate design, and the fine workmanship of their gold and silver vessels, that its art surpassed, in technique and imagination, the productions of later prehistoric periods. In the earliest ages two closely related civilizations existed in the coast region of Peru, one of them centred around Trujillo 32and the other in the vicinity of Nasca and Ica, and, fine as they were, there is nothing similar to them in later cultures. ”

“ On the 24th December Torre-Tagle convened an open Cabildo at Trujillo, when, after showing the hopelessness of resistance to the superior force of San Martin, he advised submission. The Royalists, headed by the Bishop, stoutly opposed the proposition. He answered their arguments by shutting them up in prison, and on the 29th raised the banner invented at Pisco, and, with the mass of the people, swore to maintain the independence of Peru. ”

“ A railway connects the seaport of Pacasmayo with the sugar lands and rice fields of the interior, extending fifty miles to Guadalupe and Yonan, on the road to Cajamarca. The province of Pacasmayo, which adjoins that of Trujillo, has about five thousand acres under cultivation in sugar-cane, and its rice harvest yields one hundred thousand sacks annually. The valleys of Santa Catalina and Moche are connected with Trujillo by a branch of the main railway from Salaverry, which extends from Trujillo to Laredo, Galindo, and Menocucho, passing through plantations of sugar, rice, and other products. ”

“ Along the coast may also be seen shell mounds and other fragments of a primitive age, showing that in a very remote period the inhabitants subsisted almost entirely on sea food; though nothing has been found to indicate that these people were in any way related to the races that attained, at a later date, such a high degree of culture as that represented in the monuments, potteries, and particularly in the textiles, of Nasca, Pachacámac, and Trujillo. The textiles of ancient Peru are marvellous in quality, design, and coloring, and are the especial delight and admiration of the archæologist. ”

“ The name of Peru is always a reminder of the Incas, and all but the utterly ignorant have heard the amazing tale of the conquest of Peru by Pizarro. A few dates may here be recalled. As early as 1527, Francisco Pizarro, incited by rumors of prodigious wealth of gold in a country south of Panamá, made a voyage of exploration in which he landed at Tumbes and proceeded as far as Trujillo. ”

“ Two men are reaping with sickles. Each has his donkey tethered hard by, and at nightfall will ride to his distant village, a league away maybe, hidden in some unnoticed hollow. Scarce a village have we seen.
The monotony wearies. The abject barrenness of Estremadura, its lifelessness, is actually worse, more pronounced and depressing, than we had anticipated. Now the far horizon on the north bristles with battlements, towers, and spires—that is Trujillo, an old-world fortress of the Caesars, crowning a granite koppie in yon everlasting plain. ”

“ At Truxillo, again, the capital of a Peruvian province, situated on the coast in lat. 8° 8 ́ south, the air is much drier than at Lima or Callao in 12° 2 ́ of south latitude: yet Truxillo is in the vicinity of lofty mountains which run parallel to the coast; and Huanchaco, its sea-port, is situated at the foot of the lofty Bell Mountains. ”

“ Truxillo, Tarma, Huancavelica, Lima, Guamanga, Arequipa and Cuzco, each of which is governed by an intendant, nominated by the viceroy, a nobleman of the highest rank, who is sent from Spain, and whose appointment is one of the first consequence in Spanish America.
The population of Peru may be estimated at 1,300,000, of which 130,000 are whites, 240,000, mestizoes, and the remainder Indians and negroes, the latter of whom are in very small numbers. ”

“ Four leagues south, the well-marked road swung to the right and, wading the shallow Huamachuco river, I struck off for Trujillo and comparative civilization on the coast. The faint path to the left bore me even higher across an uninhabited world, dreary with its endless expanse of dead-yellow ichu. Here were distinct remnants of the old Inca highway. For several miles across the undulating páramo the way lay between two rows of stones, set upright a considerable distance apart, and enclosing a space wide enough for six or seven carriages, had they existed, to pass abreast. ”

“ Trujillo, indeed, was faithful enough; but he had one fault, he was a fool. Conceited, shallow-headed, he soon succeeded in exciting the profound disgust of all around him. As a man, his followers hated him; as a soldier, they held him in contempt. His conduct as a military commander was marked by cruelty and treachery. In after days the sound of his name did not ring pleasantly in the ears of the revolutionists.
There was at this time in the city of Mexico a young lieutenant, who had lately come from Valladolid flying before Hidalgo. His name was Agustin Iturbide. ”

“ Trujillo, with lower mountains, borders on Zulia, Lara, Portuguesa, Zamora, and Mérida. The fertile valleys produce the finest cacao, there are large sugar estates; wheat grows higher, cattle and goats find suitable pasturage. Northwest are forests largely unexplored; oil springs give promise of future wealth.
Trujillo, the capital, is a busy town with roads in several directions; it is 19 miles from the railway station at Motatán. Other towns of some importance are Valera, Bocono, and Carache.
The Guayana Highlands have a single State and one territory. ”

“ So lived and so died the man who began life as the swineherd of Truxillo, and who ended it the conqueror of Peru. He was the greatest of the Pioneers; a man who from meaner beginnings rose higher than any; a man much slandered and maligned by the prejudiced; but nevertheless a man whom history will place in one of her highest niches,—a hero whom every lover of heroism will one day delight to honor.
Such was the conquest of Peru. Of the romantic history which followed in Peru I cannot tell here,—of the lamentable fall of brave Gonzalo Pizarro ”

“ During the next year Trujillo and Puerto de Caballos were again assailed by the English under Sherley and Parker, and the latter town was once more sacked; but, says the chronicler who described the expedition: "It was the most poore and miserable place of all India." [XXXIV‐4]
Notwithstanding the depredations of freebooters, the colonies of Honduras appear to have been fairly prosperous at the close of the sixteenth century. The lands around Trujillo were then under cultivation, producing large crops of maize and fruit; grapes, oranges, and lemons being raised in abundance. ”

“ The Sun’s innumerable flocks of llamas grazed on the mountains, and his fields were tilled in the valleys, his temples stood throughout the land, and first among them the ‘Place of Gold’ in Cuzco, where his new fire was kindled at the annual solar festival of Raymi, and where his splendid golden disc with human countenance looked forth to receive the first rays of its divine original. Sun-worship was ancient in Peru, but it was the Incas who made it the great state religion, imposing it wherever their wide conquests reached, till it became the central idea of Peruvian life. ”

“ Of course it could hardly be expected that you should be acquainted with Tránsita, [66] for she lives on a back street on the other side of the river and comes very seldom to the plaza. And probably you could not talk with her, anyhow, since her speech is only Spanish and Quichua. But not to know Arequipa—why that is to count out the prettiest city in Peru, and one of the oldest in America. And if you do not know the daughter you have missed the father, too, which is an even greater pity—for he is one of the handsomest giants on earth, though a baby in his own family. ”

“ Two days after I arrived at this port of Trujillo, I sent a Spaniard, who understood the language, and three Indians of Culua with him, to those towns which the settlers had mentioned to me, instructing the Spaniards and Indians very exactly what they were to say to the chiefs and natives of the said towns, and especially that I myself had come to those parts; for owing to the great traffic many people there had heard of me and of the events in Mexico. The first towns they visited were Chapagua and Papayeca, which are seven leagues from Trujillo, and two leagues distant from one another. ”

“ In a letter addressed by Pedraza to the audiencia of the Confines, dated May 1, 1547, he states that the seven Spanish towns which the province then contained [XVII‐9] "were always increasing as were the villages;" and yet we find that Trujillo, which had then become the largest of them, contained but fifty settlers, while none of the others numbered more than thirty. The absence of communication with the South Sea, and the distance from the highways of commerce between Spain and the new world, no doubt retarded greatly the increase of population ”

“ The country is extremely fruitful, abounding with sugar canes, maize, fruits and vegetables; also with olives and vineyards: the parts nearest the Andes produce wheat, barley, &c., so that the inhabitants export corn to Panama.
On the coast the sugar cane is cultivated with success. The chief town of the district is Truxillo, which is also the capital of the whole province, and stands in 8° 8' south latitude, and 78° 53' west longitude, 480 miles south of Quito, 268 north-north-west of Lima, in a pleasant situation surrounded with gardens, groves and delightful walks. ”

“ The capital was filled with foreboding. From the time intelligence arrived of Hidalgo's departure from Valladolid, fear had fallen on the people. And now when Trujillo returned with but a remnant of his force, notwithstanding his braggadocio, many gave up all hope. Guanajuato had fallen; Valladolid had surrendered; it was Mexico's turn next! Treasures and jewelry were carefully concealed or confided to the sacred protection of convents. Women sought asylum in nunneries; and the city, which for years had been free from popular outbreak, presented a scene of confusion and panic. ”

“ This city stands on the banks of a river in a fine plain, which is fertile in wheat and maize, and breeds great abundance of cattle, having plenty of excellent water. Truxillo is very regularly built, and is inhabited by about three hundred Spanish families. About eighty leagues from Truxillo to the south, and in the valley of Rimac, stands the city of Los Reys, or Lima, because it was founded at Epiphany, vulgarly called the day of the kings. ”

“ Continuing southward some distance beyond the site of Trujillo, a city subsequently founded by him, the evidences of wealth and intelligence meanwhile diminishing, and the reports of an imperial city where dwelt the ruler of all that region becoming fainter, Pizarro returned to Panamá, carrying back with him two native youths, one of whom, called by the Spaniards Felipillo, became notorious during the conquest. 12 The men had been ordered to treat gold with indifference, that the future harvest might be greater. ”

“ In Honduras, and Higueras as the northern portion of this territory was termed, there were, it will be remembered, but seven Spanish colonies about the middle of the sixteenth century; [XXXIV‐1] and of these, Trujillo, the largest, contained only fifty settlers. It is probable that the entire number of Spaniards in the province at this time did not exceed two hundred; and so slightly had the resources of the country been developed that the few who lived there were by no means wealthy. ”