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At a great altitude in the Andes the people had shortness of breath which they called "puna," and they ate onions to correct it. Darwin says, with a twinkle in his eye, "For my part I found nothing so good as the fossil shells." His Beagle voyage is a regular magazine of natural-history knowledge. Was any country ever before so searched and sifted for its biological facts?
Pizarro set these prisoners at liberty, on promise of procuring him a friendly reception in Peru; but they forgot their engagements afterwards, and excited the people to war against the Spaniards. From Puna, Pizarro sent three Spaniards to Tumbez, in Peru, to treat of amity; but the Peruvians seized them, and put them to death.
Some were of opinion that it was necessary to get rid of the president, either openly or by secret assassination; while others recommended that he should be invited into Peru, where it would be easy to oblige him to agree to all their demands; or where at least they could draw their negociations with him to a great length, by insisting on convening an assembly of deputies and procurators from all the cities of the kingdom at Lima, to deliberate on the subject of his reception, and to determine whether he should be received or not; and, as Peru was of vast extent, it would be easy to put off the meeting of that assembly for two years, during which period the president might be kept in the isle of Puna under a confidential guard, by which he might be prevented from writing to Spain that the country was in rebellion; more especially as they could keep him in continual suspense, by representing that the general assembly could not meet sooner on account of the vast distance of some of the cities.
There was no blemish on her, nor any feature one would alter. Half a dozen of her comrades were lounging upon the sand when we reached the via puna. Here an iron pipe in the mountain-side tapped subterranean waters, and a hollowed cocoanut-tree gave them exit upon the sand where salt waves flowed up to meet them.
The Puna stag, with stately step, advanced from his lair in the recesses of the mountains, and gazed on us with his large wondering eyes. Farther off were groups of huancas, looking cautiously at us as we passed, while the rock-rabbits disported nimbly around us. I begged Manco not to shoot them, for we did not require food, and I never liked killing an animal for sport.
In the year 1531, after the arrival of these reinforcements, Pizarro passed over from Porto Viejo to the rich island of Puna, in the bay of Guayaquil, where he was outwardly well received by the governor, who yet conspired to kill him and his men; but Pizarro prevented him, and took many of the Indians, whom he bound with chains of gold and silver.
They are fed in flocks upon the Puna heights, and it was a flock of these that our travellers saw near the hut. The males are trained to carry burdens at the age of four years. A pack-saddle, called yergua, woven out of coarse wool, is fastened on the back, and upon this the goods are placed. The burden never exceeds 120 or 130 pounds.
Arriving at the Gulf of Guayaquil, Pizarro established himself on the island of Puna, opposite Tumbez, which he cleared of its inhabitants by a series of desperate battles.
In the afternoon Dr. Wetmore and I rode to the beautiful Puna woods on a botanising excursion. We were galloping down to the beach round a sharp corner, when we had to pull our horses almost on their haunches to avoid knocking over the king, the American admiral, the captain of the "Benicia," nine of their officers, and the two generals.
What are macas? you will ask. Macas, then, are tuberous roots that grow in the elevated regions of the Puna, where neither ocas, ullucas, nor potatoes, will thrive. They are cultivated by the inhabitants, and in many parts constitute almost the only food of these wretched people. They have an agreeable and rather sweetish flavour, and, when boiled in milk, taste somewhat like boiled chestnuts.
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