C H A
C H A
Brocal de la Mina de, a settlement of the
province and corregimiento of Angaraes in Peru ;
finnexed to the curacy of Santa Barbara.
CHACLAIA, a settlement of the province and
corregimiento of Larecaja in Peru ; annexed to the
curacy of Ambana.
CHACLIA, a settlement of the province and
corregimiento of Huarochiri in the same kingdom ;
annexed to the curacy of Santa Olaya.
CHACMA, or Chamaca, a valley of the pro-
vince of Cuzco and kingdom of Peru, near the
coast of the S. sea. It was well peopled in former
times, and abounds now in sugar-cane, from which
sugar is made. It was conquered and united to
the empire by Huaina Capac, thirteenth Emperor.
CHACNA, a settlement of the province and
corregimiento of Aimaraez in Peru ; annexed to
the curacy of Colcabamba.
CHACO, a province of the kingdom of Peru,
called the Gran Chaco, is an extensive country ;
having as its boundary to the e. the river Para-
guay, and being bounded on the [n.e. by the pro-
vince of the Chiquitos Indians ; on the n. by that
of Santa Cruz de la Sierra ; on the zo. it touches
upon the provinces of Mizque, Tomina, Porna-
bamba, Pilaya, Paspaya, Tarija, and Tucuman.
On the s. it extends as far as the jurisdiction of the
government of Buenos Ayres, which is its farthest
limits. Towards the n. it is 150 leagues wide
from e. to w. and 250 leagues long from n. to s. ;
but to make these distances, it requires many
months, owing to the unevenness and roughness of
the territory. It is called Chaco, or, with more
propriety, Chacu, which, in the Quechuan lan-
guage, signifies junta, or company, from the cir-
cumstance of its having been formed of Indians of
several countries, who had fled from the conquer-
ing arms of the Incas, and afterwards from those
of the Spaniards. Towards the w. it has some
serraniasj which are branches of the cordilhrn ;
where, on account of their immense height, the
cold is very great ; but in the low grounds, which
are for the most part plains, the temperature is hot.
It is full of thick woods, and in many parts is
swampy and wet ; particularly in the part lying
towards the e. on the road to Paraguay. In the
wet season, which lasts from the month of Novem-
ber to April, the rivers leave their beds and form
various lakes, some of which dry up, and some
remain. This province has some rivers of note ;
such are the Salado and the Bermejo ; is one of the
most fertile provinces in America, and would, if
it were cultivated, afford, in the greatest abun-
dance, those productions wnich are now thrown
away upon the infinite number of barbarous na-
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tions who inhabit it. It produces a great variety
of fine woods and fruit-trees; such as walnuts and
nuts, although different from those of Europe, but
which arc extremely well tasted ; beautiful cedars ;
quebrachos^ thus called on account of their hard-
ness ; guqyacanes, carob-trees, balsams, marias,
palms, some of which are more than 30 yards in
height; almonds, cacaos, ceihas, whicli are very
large trees, bearing in the pods a remarkable soft
wool, used for quilts, since it cannot be spun ; cot-
ton-trees, mistoles, of the heart of which the In-
dians make darts and cimeters ; myrrh, sarzafraz-
trees, bark, and others, which have the interior
bark so delicate and white as occasionally to serve
instead of writing paper; others there are, whicli,
at one or two yards up their stems, form a kind of
barrel or pipe, and being of a very tough bark,
are accustomed to be ripped open by the Indians,
and thus serve as vessels, in which these keep their
liquor called chieha ; it is from this that they
whimsically call this plant palo borracho, or
drunken tree. In this province are found also
canes for walking sticks, as fine as those of Asia ;
and in the trunks of trees, in holes of the rocks
and below the ground, are quantities of honey and
wax wrought by bees, of which there are reckoned
to be more than 12 sorts : some of the wax, besides
being transparent, is extremely fragrant and deli-
cious to the taste, whilst some is so sour as to re-
semble the juice of boiled lemons. One sort of
these bees fabricate, with great skill, excellent
hives of mud upon the branches of trees, and of
the shape of a decanter, which are so hard that
they will not break in falling down upon the
ground ; they, morever, are filled Avith exquisite
wax and Avell-flavoured honey. The fruit-trees
which this province produces, are oranges, cedars,
lemons, apples, pears, melocotones^ (or peaches en-
grafted on quinces), figs, nuts, prunes, and olives,
also passion-floAvers ; all of which have been
brought hither from the city of Santiago de Gua-
dalcazar. Here are palms Avhich have cups con-
taining 25 kernels each, differing only slightly
from the palms of Europe by having a flavour of
the cocoa, and being somewhat larger. Here is
also a plant called chahuar, having prickles like
the savine, of which are made threads similar to
hemp, for the manufacture of nets, bags, and some
sorts of coarse garments : its root serves as food for
the Indians, as do also yucas, potatoes, and others.
It has an innumerable quantity of birds, namely,
Avild pigeons, ducks, herons, mountain-peacocks’
pheasants, crows, condors, partridges, falcons,
SAvans, periguanas, ostriches, parrots, and one
kind of bird which exactly imitates an organ, and
EN