As the valley of the Nile became the seat of Egyptian civilization when all the rest of Africa was in barbarism, so, in the western world, the valleys of the coast region of Peru formed the centre of social and industrial development at a period more remote than is indicated by existing evidences of any other culture on the South American continent. In the primitive history of mankind it is under the most favorable conditions of soil and climate that the greatest social development is to be traced, and in no part of the world had the simple child of nature apparently less to fear from the elements or more to hope from the beneficent earth than in these smiling valleys. There is no doubt that in ancient times the irrigation of this extensive area was more general and its desert tracts were fewer than at present; and the efforts of the Peruvian government, now directed toward a scientific investigation of the subsoil of this region, aim especially to discover, if possible, some means of restoring these sources of moisture, which were once sufficiently abundant for the fertilization of a vast realm inhabited by a population many times in excess of what it is at present.

Trujillo occupies the site on which flourished, long before the advent of the Incas, the rich and powerful capital of the Chimus. Their palaces and temples were spread over a great extent of territory, and the ruins of their culture are to be seen in all the valleys of this part of Peru. Whether the earliest builders of these prehistoric piles were the Chimus or a still more ancient race has not been determined: but in the neighborhood of Trujillo and in the valleys of Chicama, Santa Catalina, and others, exist to this day evidences of an architecture of very great antiquity, and of such a character as could only have been produced by an intelligent and cultivated people. At the time of the Spanish conquest, the Incas had gained the ascendancy in the valley of Chimu, extending some two hundred leagues along the coast from Tumbes southward, but its tribes were by no means willing allies of the sovereign of Cuzco. When the Spaniards appeared, they were welcomed as superior beings sent by heaven to avenge the injuries which the subjects of the powerful Chimu Canchu—The Grand Chimu—had suffered at the hands of Pachacutec’s son, the Prince Yupanqui.

According to colonial records, a small Spanish settlement already existed on the site of the present city of Trujillo when Pizarro arrived from Lima in 1535. Don Miguel de Estete, commissioned by Almagro the year previous to find a suitable location for a town, had chosen this place and settled a colony there. Pizarro approved and confirmed the settlement already established, and formally founded the city of Trujillo, giving it the name of his native town in Spain. The Intendencia of Trujillo was defined at the same time to cover, not only the present Department of La Libertad, but those of Lambayeque, Piura, Cajamarca, and Amazonas. In 1537, the title of city was conferred on Trujillo under the royal seal of the Emperor Charles V. and his mother, the Queen Joana, and from the earliest days of its history the municipality has been honored with the dignity of “Very Illustrious Corporation of the City of Trujillo.” Throughout the period of the viceroyalty, it was one of the most important centres of colonial industry; many noble families had their estates in its fertile valleys, and their descendants still retain possession. The people of Trujillo are very proud of their ancestry, and conserve the courtly manner and inherent grace distinctive of old Castile. Peruvians enjoy repeating, at the expense of this hidalgo spirit, the humorous saying that “the bones of Don Quixote lie interred in the Plaza of Trujillo.” There is an atmosphere of refinement in the social life of the place that is as charming as it is simple and genuine. Pride of race has proved no disadvantage to Trujillo, whose people have other claims than heredity on which to rest their merits.

Trujillo was the first city of Peru that proclaimed and took the oath of Independence, on the 22d of December, 1820, the Cabildo being convened under the presidency of the Intendente, the Marquis of Torre-Tagle. General Bolivar, in his message to Congress in 1825, said that the provinces comprising the Intendencia of Trujillo had given liberty to Peru; and in recognition of this patriotic movement, he bestowed the name of La Libertad on the Department, which, under the republic, replaced the Intendencia of the colonial government. Later, the limits of La Libertad were encroached upon to form the Departments of Amazonas, Cajamarca, Piura, and Lambayeque, each of these divisions being entitled to share the honor of having led the way to national liberty. In 1824, Trujillo was declared the capital of the republic, during the time that Lima was occupied by the royalists. Its history as a republican city reflects honor on the people, who have shown their patriotism and courage upon every occasion when the needs of the country have called them to action. In the war with Chile, the Trujillo regiment was distinguished among all the troops of Peru for bravery on the field; from this city most liberal contributions have been made for purposes of national defence; and the public spirit of the citizens is constantly shown by their generous encouragement of enterprises for the public benefit, such as the installation of the water works system, the paving of sidewalks, and the maintenance of public parks and buildings, all of which have been effected through the coöperation of progressive townspeople.

During the viceroyalty, Trujillo was a walled city, of oval form, and about two leagues in circumference; the attacks of pirates led the Duke de la Palata, when viceroy of Peru, to provide this means of defence against invasion, the wall being built in 1617, of adobe, five feet thick and ten feet high, with a parapet above it and fifteen bastions. Only a few traces of this structure still remain, the increased population and industrial development having extended the city’s boundaries greatly beyond its former limits. The present population is about twenty thousand. The streets follow the usual plan of Spanish-built cities, cutting each other at right angles and having an average width of from forty to fifty feet. The houses are of the Spanish colonial style, in appearance resembling those of Lima more than any other Peruvian city. Everywhere one sees the little balconies encased in ornamental rejas or barred frames; spacious patios, paved with ornamental tiles and adorned with plants and flowers,—presenting a most attractive appearance as seen from the street,—and solid walls and massive doors, telling of a period when durability was deemed as important as architectural beauty. The houses built nowadays are mere shells in comparison with the edifices constructed by the Spanish conquerors and their successors, when a wall had to be made several feet thick to be satisfactory, and a door must be large enough to admit a mounted horseman, and massive enough to resist a battering-ram. From the principal public square, called here, as elsewhere in Spanish-America, the Plaza de Armas, the most important public buildings may be seen, the Prefecture, municipal buildings and other government offices overlooking this central paseo. The plaza covers five acres and is ornamented with a garden of shrubs and flowers, in the midst of which stands a large stone fountain. Beautiful shade trees border the great square, making it an ideal place for a promenade, and here the social world congregates in the evening. In the vicinity of the plaza are several interesting old churches of the colonial period. When Pizarro founded the city, the chronicler of that event tells us, “the convents of Santo Domingo, San Francisco, and La Merced were the corner stones of that enterprise.” The convent of San Agustin, situated a block away from the plaza, was founded in 1558, and the first Jesuit college in 1627. The episcopal diocese of Trujillo was created in 1577.

The church of San Agustin is particularly notable for the magnificent carving of its main altar and pulpit, and the rich gilding that adorns them. The Jesuit college building has been occupied by the University of Trujillo since the inauguration of the republic, in accordance with a decree of President Bolivar, dated the 10th of May, 1824. The convent of Belem, founded in 1671, is now used as a hospital. The schools and benevolent institutions of Trujillo receive especial attention, and the best interests of both are made a subject of public and private consideration. Besides the University and the National College of San Juan, maintained by the government, the Institute Moderno, the Colegio de La Independencia and other schools afford secondary instruction, and primary training is given in ten or more municipal colleges.

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. Not only are classes formed for the benefit of men who wish to pursue a special study, but free instruction is given to boys who would otherwise be spending their evenings in idle company on the streets. It is interesting to visit these schools and see them filled night after night with eager and ambitious pupils. The teachers give their services free during certain evenings each week.

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. The press is represented by three daily newspapers—of which La Industria is the largest—and a number of monthly periodicals. The Torch and The Shoemaker, both labor journals, are an expression of the interest taken by the workingmen in the affairs of the day. A novel enterprise is the publication of an illustrated almanac of three hundred pages, called El Mercurio, devoted to a description of the Department of La Libertad, its history, government, schools, and industrial development, and issued at the publisher’s cost, in the interests of his commercial house and as a propaganda of the department.

Two widely different attractions claim the attention of all visitors to Trujillo,—the wonderful archæological ruins and the famous Chicama Valley. Between the city and the sea extend the crumbling walls of Chan-Chan and the Huacas of Moche, while northward, after a railway journey of less than an hour, the traveller enters the blooming gardens and green-mantled fields of a country overflowing with the bounties of a perennial harvest. Chan-Chan covers a desert tract about fifty square miles in circumference less than a league north of the capital, and just beyond the little Indian village of Mansiche, on the road to the seaport Huanchaco. It is said that rich treasure lies buried somewhere under the modest little cluster of huts named Mansiche in honor of a great cacique of the place. But one hears constantly of buried treasure in Trujillo. The peje chica and the peje grande—“little fish” and the “big fish”—are magic words to those who understand. Every traveller who possesses an imagination susceptible to the influence of mystery and tradition must succumb to the glittering charm of the peje chica, and feel the gold-hunter’s enthusiasm when brought into the realm of the peje grande. As the horses jog along the road that leads from the city to the ruins, visions of hidden treasure throw a glamour over the most commonplace scenes, and every mound by the roadside is an object of curiosity as a possible repository for treasure. It is a matter of history that soon after the Conquest a vast fortune was unearthed at Chan-Chan, of which the king’s fifth amounted to a million dollars in value, this treasure being known as the peje chica. One version of the story tells that the cacique of Mansiche, who had observed with particular attention the kindness of a young Spaniard toward the people of the conquered race, and had noticed also that he was very poor, revealed the secret of the hiding-place of the peje chica, on condition that a portion of the wealth should be used to advance the interests of the Indians. The most valuable article discovered was in the form of a fish, of solid gold, and so large that the Spaniards considered it a rare prize; but the cacique assured his young friend that it was only the “little fish” and that a much greater treasure existed in the “big fish,” worth many times the value of this one. The sequel to the story is that the Spaniard forgot his promise, went off to Spain and spent all his gold, and was returning to get the peje grande, of which he made great boasts, when he was thrown from his horse and killed. From that day to the present, treasure hunters have dug into the huacas of Chan-Chan and Moche with faith and persistence,—but without finding the peje grande. Many interesting relics of the ancient civilization have been unearthed, and the present prefect of Trujillo, Dr. Carlos Velarde, has accomplished a notable work in the excavation of the great wall of Chan-Chan, covered with carvings of fishes, turtles, pelicans, and other animals of the seashore. Dr. Max Uhle is now engaged in making excavations at Chan-Chan and at Moche, the latter offering a study of much archæological importance in its “Huaco del Sol.”

Moche is an Indian town situated midway between Trujillo and the port of Salaverry, to the south. Its inhabitants preserve their primitive costumes, and wear a distinctive dress, the women’s garb consisting of a chemise and a single piece of dark blue cloth wrapped round the body and fastened at the waist, reaching to the ankles. The municipal ordinance forbids the wearing of this costume in the city, but at Moche it is everywhere seen. The Moche Indians never intermarry with other races, and they are as proud of their unmixed pedigree as any “belted earl.” They are an intelligent people, and the women are graceful and ready-witted. Recently, two North American ladies were being shown the sights of Trujillo, when their cicerone drew attention to a Moche girl riding by on a donkey, evidently on her way to Moche. Seeing that she was an object of interest, she smiled and bowed with the nonchalance of a court belle, and asked the ladies’ escort, “Gringas?” As the amusement of the strangers told that they understood this patronymic to apply to themselves, she hastened to add, hospitably, “Bring them to Moche!”

It is impossible to imagine a more complete transition than is made when one leaves the enchanted realm of the peje grande for the varying sights and scenes of the Chicama valley. It is necessary to visit the former in order to appreciate the full significance of the latter. Everything around Chan-Chan is a temptation to live on dreams, to try one’s luck at treasure hunting, or to dig huacas in the hope of getting a rare specimen for some archæological museum. The Chicama valley affords proof that there are richer treasures in its fertile fields than Chan-Chan ever had in hiding, and no uncertainty exists as to their location. Its area is about a hundred square leagues, drained by the Chicama River, which rises in the province of Otuzco, Department of La Libertad, and flows into the Pacific. On its great plantations, sugar-cane is grown that reaches a height of from twenty to twenty-five feet, containing more than fourteen per cent of sugar. The broad estates of Casa Grande, Roma, Cartavio, and others, are crossed by private railways which carry the cane from the fields to the mills; and the entire valley has direct communication with the port of Salaverry by means of the state railway, now under the administration of the Peruvian Corporation. From the port, the main line passes through Moche, Trujillo (eight miles from Salaverry), and crossing the desert pampa with one stop only at the station of La Cumbre, enters the valley at the town of Chicama, twenty miles north of the capital. About a mile above this point, after passing Chiclín, the train crosses an immense iron bridge, about three thousand feet long, over the Chicama River. The route then lies entirely through the district of the sugar lands, the principal stations being Chocope, Constancia Junction, Casa Grande Junction, Facalá, and the terminal station of Ascope, fifty miles from Salaverry. From all these stations, private railways connect with the sugar plantations. The Hacienda of Roma is connected directly with the port of Huanchaco by a private line, making an extension of thirty-five miles. This immense property, like the estates of Casa Grande and Cartavio, embraces many thousands of acres and supports large communities of working people. Life presents a very pleasant picture on these large plantations, where a good climate, healthful labor, comfortable homes and ample provision for their needs contribute to make the employés contented and happy. Churches, schools, and hospitals are provided, and on some plantations there are free libraries, and night classes are taught for the benefit of those who work during the day. Telephones connect the haciendas with Trujillo, and, as most of them are situated within a couple of hours’ ride by railway from that city, constant communication is maintained. The Casa Grande Company owns one of the most important sugar estates of the Chicama valley, covering nearly two hundred thousand acres of land, and supports a population of about five thousand, most of the number living in the vicinity of Casa Grande. The machinery used in the sugar factory of this hacienda is of the most modern manufacture, equal to the best in existence for the purpose. Electricity is used for lighting, the hacienda having a dynamo for two hundred lights of sixteen candle-power and a motor of twenty-five horse-power. The new system of crushing and elaborating the cane in the factory of Casa Grande is so complete that the process follows automatically from the unloading of the cars as they arrive from the fields, to the filling of the sacks with sugar, ready for market. Not only in the factory, but in the fields, modern machinery is used, and agricultural implements of the best manufacture are employed. This is true of Roma and Cartavio as well as Casa Grande. The resident managers of these haciendas enjoy every comfort that a well-ordered establishment can provide, and they entertain with generous hospitality.

Although the fame of the Chicama valley outshines that of other sugar-growing districts of Trujillo, there are large and rich plantations also in the valleys of Jequetepeque, or Pacasmayo, to the north, and in Santa Catalina and Moche to the south. 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. The annual exports of sugar from the port of Salaverry amount to about fifty thousand tons and those from Huanchaco average between twenty-five thousand and thirty thousand tons. An important share of these shipments goes to North American ports.

The Department of La Libertad is composed of six provinces, those of Trujillo and Pacasmayo bordering the Pacific Ocean, while the remaining four—Otuzco, Santiago de Chuco, Huamachuco, and Pataz—are situated in the region of the sierra. The Marañon River divides the province of Huamachuco from that of Pataz, and in its lower valleys the climate of the Montaña prevails, coffee, sugar, and cacao being produced. Coca is one of the important products of this department, and cocaine is manufactured in Trujillo for shipment to foreign ports. On the high puna, abundant pasture is found, and, in the lower sierra, wheat, barley, maize, and potatoes are cultivated. The southern districts of the province of Trujillo contain saline deposits of importance.

Not only is the Department of La Libertad rich in agricultural products of every zone, but the mines of its sierras abound in precious metals. For the past few years, especial interest has been taken in the mineral wealth of this region, small lots of gold, silver, and copper ores being exported with most satisfactory returns. Quiruvilca, sixty-six miles beyond the terminus of the railway which connects Trujillo with Menocucho, is a mining district covering about a hundred square miles rich in copper and silver. Veins having an average width of fourteen inches contain from fifty to sixty per cent copper, and silver veins of sixteen inches in width produce as much as a thousand ounces of silver. The Quiruvilca mine is two days’ ride on muleback from the end of the railway, which is twenty-seven miles from the port of Salaverry, where all the steamers of the west coast call for cargo. Although the property has not been developed on the large scale necessary to make it a famous copper mine, it is worked successfully and yields good returns for the small capital employed. Two hundred tons can now be exported daily, the high and low grade ores together averaging forty-five per cent copper. It is the purpose of the present owners, who are also the chief proprietors of Casa Grande, to place this enterprise on a gigantic basis, by constructing a railway, not only to Quiruvilca, but to another mine, Araqueda, also enormously rich in copper and silver, and by establishing smelting works and other improvements for which large capital must be employed. The easy accessibility to a good port and the mildness of the climate of this mining region, as compared with the severity of the puna where many of the most valuable mines of Peru are located, are strong points in favor of its rapid development.

The subjects of the Incas worked the mines of the sierra throughout this region and had thriving villages in the various mountain districts of the present Department of La Libertad. The town of Huamachuco, now the capital of the province of the same name, was a populous Indian settlement at the time of the Conquest, when Hernando Pizarro discovered it while leading his army southward from Piura in search of the treasure which Atahuallpa had said would be found in the temple of Pachacámac. The Conquerors were too intent on collecting the gold and silver of the Inca’s palaces and temples to occupy themselves at that time with the question of mining and of the wealth to be gained by such a laborious process; they saw the coveted metal within their reach without having to dig for it, and they little guessed the hidden treasures over which they marched on their way to plunder the sacred halls of Pachacámac. Perhaps the source of the rich gold and silver ornaments of the Chimus is to be found in the sierras of Otuzco, Santiago de Chuco, Pataz, and Huamachuco, the fountain-head of that precious stream down which the peje grande floated to lose itself among the huacas of Chan-Chan and Moche.