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It is true, Paita is situated on so parched a spot that it does not itself furnish a drop of fresh water, or any kind of greens or provisions, except fish and a few goats; but there is an Indian town called Colan, about two or three leagues distant to the northward, whence water, maize, greens, fowls, etc., are brought to Paita on balsas, or floats, for the convenience of the ships that touch here; and cattle are sometimes brought from Piura, a town which lies about fourteen leagues up in the country.
In the north is a great desert plain, but in this almost lifeless desert there is a great valley in which is a most interesting city. The name of this city is Piura and it is on a small river bearing the same name. This river is more like the Nile in Egypt than any other river known.
It is a well known fact among cotton growers that Piura cotton has a peculiar strength of fiber that makes it sell for nearly double the price of that grown in our southern states. As goats can live where other animals will starve, this valley is also noted for its great goat herds which make their living on the dry mountain sides. The greatest seaport of Peru is Callao.
They were only to be met triumphantly by the spirit of the knight-errant. After crossing the smooth waters of the Piura, the little army continued to advance over a level district intersected by streams that descended from the neighboring Cordilleras.
The Governor, upon examining the master, was fully satisfied of his relation, and immediately sent away an express to Lima to acquaint the Viceroy therewith; and the royal officer residing at Paita, being apprehensive of a visit from the English, was busily employed in removing the King's treasure and his own to Piura, a town within land about fourteen leagues distant.
The site originally occupied by the settlement was afterward found to be so unhealthy, that it was abandoned for another on the banks of the beautiful Piura. The town is still of some note for its manufactures, though dwindled from its ancient importance; but the name of San Miguel de Piura, which it bears, still commemorates the foundation of the first European colony in the empire of the Incas.
He likewise informed him that the city of San Miguel de Piura had rebelled, and that one Pedro de Orosna was coming from the new kingdom of Grenada with a strong party to join the rebels in Peru. But to qualify this favourable news for the rebels, Giron received notice at the same time that the marshal Alvarado was coming against him from Las Charcas with a force of twelve hundred men.
All the upper spars of these craft were sent ashore, and their lower yards, where they were retained to serve as derricks, were cock-billed. The head-booms were unrigged, and all but the standing bowsprits of the wooden vessels were landed. The senior Peruvian naval officer afloat was at this time Captain Don Miguel Grau, a native of Piura, and a man of about forty-five years of age.
Though informed that the governor of Piura had come to the defence of Payta with a reinforcement of an hundred men, they immediately pushed to the fort on the hill, which they took with little resistance, on which the governor and all the inhabitants evacuated Payta, but which we found empty of money, goods, and provisions.
The site afterwards proved to be unhealthy, and was abandoned for another on the banks of the river Piura, where a town still stands.
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