Salaverry, 66 miles from Pacasmayo, is usually reached during the night. At this port a few tourists may be tempted to disembark, perhaps with two objects in view; one to visit the ancient city of Chan Chan, the flourishing city of Trujillo, and the great sugar plantations of the valley; the other, for the purpose of transferring to the caletero boat, in order to land at Chimbote or Samanco, thence to visit the Huailas Valley to admire its magnificent scenery, including the peerless HuascarÁn. By taking at Panama the Sunday steamer (fortnightly) of the Peruvian Line, one may land at Chimbote or Samanco without change.

Salaverry, with one or two hundred houses on the desert shore, is a port merely, near a bold bluff which helps to make a fair harbor. A great quantity of sugar from the Chicama and Santa Catalina Valleys is the chief export.

Trujillo, eight miles by rail from the harbor, is a pretty city of 10,000 people. Founded by Pizarro in 1535 near the ruined capital of the Grand Chimu, it is one of the most aristocratic of Peruvian cities. First among these to proclaim independence, December 22, 1820, the Department received from BolÍvar the name La Libertad. Trujillo possesses a pretty shaded plaza, fashionable for the evening promenade, several convents, and interesting churches, one of which, the San AugustÍn, is noteworthy on account of the excellent carving and rich gilding of the pulpit and high altar. It has a hospital, a university, a club, a hippodrome, a theater, and three daily papers; also, most important to the traveler, a respectable but far from luxurious hotel providing rooms, while fair meals may be procured at a Chinese restaurant close by.

Sugar Estates. Well worth a visit are the splendid sugar estates up the Chicama Valley, Casa Grande, Roma, Cartavio, and others. The first, an hour by rail from Trujillo, is said to be the largest sugar plantation in the world, containing a total population of 11,000, one-fourth of which is engaged in labor in the fields or mills. This valley, which in the time of the Grand Chimu supported a great population, was in the last century almost a barren desert up to 1873, when a German visiting the valley discovered the ancient irrigating canal, bought up land, and soon made the desert blossom as the rose. This valley produces more sugar than the entire island of Porto Rico, sugar of the finest quality. In the temperate, equable climate, the cane all along the coast matures early, is unusually rich in sugar, and may be cut all the year around. It may be raised at a profit if sold at 1½ cents a pound. The estates have the best of machinery, and expert managers who employ the latest and the most approved methods. Churches, schools, and hospitals are provided. The dwellings of the proprietors and superintendents contain most of the conveniences and luxuries of modern life, including telephones. The annual export of sugar from Salaverry amounts to 50,000 tons, and from Huanchacho near by to half as much more. Within 30 miles of Salaverry are also rich copper and silver mines, far more accessible than those on the plateau region above, and with a more agreeable climate. Their development on a large scale will not long be delayed.

Chan Chan. The tourist who is not a possible investor or looking after commercial interests may rather turn his attention to the great ruins north of Trujillo on the road to the small seaport, Huanchacho. Every one interested in antiquities should visit the ruins of Chan Chan, the largest and most important of the dead cities on our western coast. For a good pedestrian it is a moderate walk from Trujillo, though a horse may well serve the majority. Here the Grand Chimu once ruled over the twenty northern valleys of the Peruvian coast, from Tumbes on the north to Supe, well towards the Rimac valley on the south. Here was a civilization entirely distinct from that of the Incas, unhappily overthrown by them some four generations before the Conquest by Pizarro. A fertile plain 90 miles long was watered from three rivers by a remarkable system of irrigation. An aqueduct tapping the Muchi River high up in the mountains carried water across the valley on an embankment 60 feet high. Remains of a great reservoir between Trujillo and Casa Grande indicate a capacity, of two billion cubic feet of water. The city itself, open to the sea, was protected on the east from land invaders by a thick and lofty wall extending for miles along its borders. That it was at last compelled to succumb to the Incas is believed to be because these succeeded in diverting the water supply.

The site of Chan Chan, once probably the largest city in the New World, with an area of fifty or sixty square miles, is now a melancholy spectacle. What ruthless destruction has been wrought! What loss to the human race, through the overthrow of ancient civilization, again and again followed by relapses into partial or complete barbarism and toilsome progress upward! Will people ever learn to moderate their greed for wealth and power, and suffer others to dwell in peace after their own fashion!

For a cursory or careful inspection of the ruins a guide should be employed, as wandering at random one may miss or fail to understand the most important remains. In the labyrinth of walls with various enclosures containing numerous buildings, an immense mound is an occasional feature. One built of stone and rubble, 150 feet high, called Obispo, covers an area of 500 square feet. To the casual observer the design would not be obvious. Originally the mounds were in terraces, upon which buildings were erected with various passages leading to store rooms or burial chambers in the interior. With gardens around their base a splendid effect must have been created. The Spaniards early searched these mounds for treasure, with great success. From one called the Toledo three million dollars are said to have been taken; from the entire city $15,000,000. A broad lower mound proved to be a cemetery, where in niches were found mummies in elaborate garments of fine cotton adorned with gold and silver. In the center is a structure doubtless for the performance of the funeral rites.

The great palace of the Chimu enclosed a large hall 100 by 52½ feet. Its walls, containing a series of niches, were covered between with stucco relief work in arabesque patterns. Two structures of unusual form are believed to be factories. Arranged around a square which had a reservoir in the center were twenty-two recesses, probably for shops. Opening on smaller courts and passages were one hundred and eleven rooms, probably workshops for artificers in gold, silver, and bronze, and for designers, dyers, potters, and weavers. Wonderful ornaments of gold and silver have been found, fine textile fabrics, and most remarkable, the pottery, white, black, and pale red, which in immense quantities has been taken from the mounds called huacas, a name applied also to the objects. On the various specimens of this ceramic ware is portrayed every kind of fish, bird, mammal, and fruit, with which they were acquainted, also human beings, some in portraits, others as caricatures. There are groups engaged in war dances, in harvesting, and in other occupations. Some specimens of the pottery are said to be equal to any which has been fashioned, from the best days of ancient Greece up to the present time. Near the banks of the river Muchi at the south, stood a temple to the moon called Si An, where important religious ceremonies and processions took place.

Evidently the Grand Chimu was a powerful monarch with a magnificent court, ruling over subjects who lived in comfort. Their language, Mochica, is little known, as the race is practically extinct. When conquered by the Incas they were neither destroyed nor robbed of all their wealth. It was Pizarro and his followers who, though amazed at the greatness and beauty of the edifices, wantonly robbed and persecuted the inhabitants until the country was laid waste. The people and their civilization vanished and were forgotten. The language, wholly different from the Quichua, gives no hint as to the origin of the people. Neither does tradition lighten the mystery, nor their art, which relates wholly to their environment, though betraying some similarity to Mayo works. An exhaustive study of the language and of the archÆological remains is required to reconstruct the history of this remarkable people whose ancestors are believed to have dwelt here long before the Christian Era.

Moche. Between the city of Trujillo and the port Salaverry is an Indian town called Moche, the inhabitants of which may be remnants of this old race. They wear a distinctive dress, are proud of their unmixed lineage, and do not intermarry with others. The costume of the women, merely a chemise with a piece of dark blue cloth wrapped around the body and fastened at the waist, to be seen anywhere in Moche, is not allowed in Trujillo.

Continuing from Salaverry by express steamer, one arrives the day following at Callao, a twenty-two hours’ run.

Chimbote and the Huailas Valley. The tourist who desires to behold the wonderful scenery of the Huailas Valley and magnificent HuascarÁn, surely repaying a little trouble, at present transfers at Salaverry to the weekly caletero boat for Chimbote or Samanco, unless he has sailed in the Sunday Peruvian steamer. With the completion of the railway to CarÁz and beyond, promised within a year or two (as, alas! since 1906), Chimbote will doubtless become a primary port, receiving calls from the express steamers. When this happens, no one should omit the delightful railway journey of 135 miles to Yungay, at the foot of the great HuascarÁn. At the moment, the trip may be enjoyed by the robust traveler, as the three or four days’ horseback ride into the valley involves no hardship, save fatigue to those unwonted to such journeys.

The harbor of Chimbote, by some called the finest on the entire West Coast below Panama, is practically landlocked by a peninsula and several islands. It has an area of about 36 square miles, without a single rock below its placid surface. The usual pier extends from a sandy beach which affords splendid bathing facilities; but docks, approachable by the largest ships, could be arranged on one of the islands, which a bridge across a 200-yard channel would easily connect with the main land. The American capitalist, Henry Meiggs, the prime mover in the construction of the South and Central Peruvian Railways, had the foresight in the early seventies to perceive the great business possibilities of the Chimbote harbor, and planned the railway from Chimbote up the valley of the Santa River and along the Huailas Valley to HuarÁz, 167 miles. A beginning was made, the road bed was constructed for 80 miles, the rails were laid for 60, when the Chilian war broke out. The invaders, having captured Chimbote, carried off the rolling stock and supplies, and destroyed whatever could not be removed. After the close of the war, Peru being bankrupt, the project remained for some years in abeyance, during which time the road was operated only to Tablones, a distance of 35 miles. Under recent concessions some work has been accomplished and the road is now open 30 miles farther. It is expected that the Peruvian Corporation, at present in control, will soon complete the line to Recuay, a little beyond HuarÁz, when better accommodations for tourists will surely be provided. At present some of the towns have no hotels whatever, while in others those existing are very poor. Happily the residents are most hospitable, and strangers with letters of introduction, or in some cases without, are agreeably entertained by some of the best families. Naturally, with better facilities for travel this pleasant custom will cease. At Chimbote the small and poor hotel where I stayed in 1906, if not already enlarged and improved, will doubtless soon be superseded by a more adequate establishment. Back of the town, together with a mound and walls remaining from an ancient city, are vestiges of an aqueduct, presumably constructed in Chimu days. When these are repaired the desert plain near by, which bears an excellent soil, will be fruitful enough to support the great city laid out by Meiggs and expected to follow the completion of the railroad. This project was originally undertaken, not for the purpose of conducting tourists to the splendid scenery of the Huailas Valley, nor primarily for the convenience of its present large population and the export of its agricultural products. The chief value of the railroad lies in its opening up the immense coal fields of the region. Along the Santa River are millions of tons of excellent coal, which some persons believed worthless, because it is chiefly anthracite and semi-anthracite, therefore non-coking; ignorant of the fact that except for smelting purposes it is more valuable than soft coal.

This railroad has an advantage over the others leading into the interior, in being able to follow the Santa River through a cut in the Coast Range, instead of climbing 15,000 feet over it. Thus by a moderate grade it will reach the Huailas Valley. A serious impediment to the construction is the narrow gorge through the mountains, impracticable even for a pedestrian; yet the difficulty will soon be overcome. After ten miles on the desert the road passes near sugar plantations and haciendas. The region of coal deposits follows, extending through the mountain range and up the two lateral valleys beyond, the north in the direction of Cajamarca, the south, the Huailas Valley, to Recuay. The passage of the sombre gorge will be along the side of splendid cliffs with a foaming stream below, a continuous spectacle of superb grandeur. Turning south into the Huailas Valley, from one to four miles wide, the traveler has the White Range on the east, the Black on the west. The floor of the valley is beautiful with green fields of alfalfa and vegetables, with vineyards, fig and orange trees, chirimoias, and other tropical and sub-tropical fruits, and with hedges of fragrant flowers: above are rounded hillsides bearing the grains, green or golden, of temperate climes, higher are cliffs either gray or black, and on the east white peaks of dazzling splendor rising 14,000, 16,000 feet above the valley, which itself slowly ascends from 4000 to 10,000 feet above the sea. The lower western wall attains an altitude of from 15,000 to 18,000 feet. Travelers may always disagree as to the finest scenery in the world, but few visitors to this valley will deny that it is unsurpassed in the Western Hemisphere. In scenic splendor excelling Chamonix, in mineral riches it rivals the Klondike; for on both sides, the mountains are veined with gold, silver, and copper, as well as the more useful if plebeian coal.

HuascarÁn. CarÁz, a pretty town with a delightful climate at an altitude of 6000 feet, is situated at the base of Huandoy, 21,000 feet, while Yungay, at 8300 feet, has a still finer location on the lower slope of the great HuascarÁn, one of the most beautiful of the world’s mountains, first climbed by Miss Peck on her sixth attempt, September 2, 1908, in company with two Swiss guides, her earlier efforts being rendered abortive through inability to provide other assistants than the inexpensive and incompetent natives. In recognition of this remarkable ascent to a summit 1500 feet higher than Mt. McKinley, Miss Peck was presented by the Government of Peru with a very beautiful gold medal. Of the twin peaks, the north was the summit attained: this, according to later measurement by French engineers, has an altitude of 21,812 feet; the south peak, 22,187 feet, pronounced by the guides impossible at the time, remains for some other mountaineer to conquer. Other snow mountains a little lower, of varying degrees of difficulty, afford opportunity for a number of first ascents of 20,000 feet and upwards.

The tourist who is not a mountain climber will find ample reward for his journey in admiring these peaks from the valley. He should, however, take a few horseback rides, especially one from Yungay through the Llanganuco Gorge, by which there is a frequented pass between HuascarÁn and Huandoy to the mountainous and mineral region east of the White Range. This splendid excursion may be made in a single day from Yungay, but the feeble, or the novice in horseback riding may prefer to spend the night at a ranch house at the east end of the gorge, perhaps extending the excursion some distance beyond. In any case provisions should be taken from Yungay.

After a pleasant two hours’ ride over the green foothills, one enters the narrow gorge four miles long, and a quarter to a half mile wide, where a sublime spectacle is presented. Practically perpendicular cliffs, more lofty than those of the Yosemite, rise on either hand, until at the center of the gorge one gazes at the sheer north wall of HuascarÁn towering 10,000 feet above the floor of the caÑon which itself has a height of 12,000 feet. On the left, high up between massive triangular cliffs, gleam glaciers of the sharper Huandoy, almost as high as the snowy coverlet peering over the edge of HuascarÁn. A beautiful lake half a mile long, near the center occupies the entire floor of the valley. One rides along the pathway, in places cut out of the solid rock, in others supported by tree trunks, where a horse’s stumble might easily precipitate his rider into the so-called fathomless lake 100 feet below; but the excellent horses climb veritable stairs with ease, and there is no occasion for disquietude. In the distant foreground a beautiful snowclad mountain is in brilliant contrast to the somber and awesome surroundings. A second lake follows; a silvery waterfall on the left leaps down a few thousand feet in a shimmering shower of spray. Beyond the lakes are meadows, then the ranch house. To continue thence to the south to behold the eastern face of HuascarÁn and other splendid peaks is well worth the sturdy traveler’s while. At least the Llanganuco Gorge should be traversed by every visitor to the valley, though many of the natives of Yungay have never admired its grandeur, as many residents of Buffalo have never seen Niagara Falls. Several delightful walks or rides should be taken to the hills back of Yungay, and to a buttress of the Black Range opposite. From one of the former, a little to the south, may be had the finest possible view of the mountain. A pleasant ride, of three hours each way (a whole day should be allowed for the trip), is to the gold mine Matarao (10,000 feet), above the village of Mancos. From this point HuascarÁn may be climbed; or one may walk up to the snow line and return the same day, if not affected by the altitude.

Before the completion of the railroad the tourist may adventure thither by riding up over the Black Range. Without letters of introduction to hospitable hosts, one should write a week or two in advance to the steamship agent at Samanco requesting him to have horses ready at the port, since none may be obtained there. One may ride on the day of arrival 30 miles to Moro where there is a poor hotel. The second day one may proceed to PamparomÁs, where food and lodging of a sort are provided. A long third day’s ride will bring one at nightfall to Yungay. From the altitude of 14,700 feet at the top of the pass in the Black Range, there is a glorious picture of the Cordillera Blanca, a row of snowclad giants extending north and south as far as the eye can reach; while a gloomy caÑon close in front leads down to the beautiful valley. A truly hardy traveler may enjoy pursuing his way up the Huailas Valley to HuarÁz and on to Cerro de Pasco, from Yungay a ten days’ journey; either by way of HuÁnuco in the montaÑa section east of the mountains, or by ChiquiÁn on the plateau near the foot of another splendid peak.