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BooKIX.
Royal
Commentaries.
CH A P. ·
XIX.
Of the Hogs, and their great lncrea{e.
A
T the beginning Hogs were much dearer than Goats, thoug.h there was no
fer price-made for them.
Petf'I'
de
Ciefa
in
his 26th Chapter
of
the Re–
marks
or Obfervations of the
Provinces of
Peru,
faith, That the Marelhal
Don
George Rflbledo
bought
amongfi
the Goods of
Chriftopher de 4Jala,
a
Sow and
a
Pig
at the price of one thoufand fix hundred Pieces
of
Eight. And farther he
faith,
That
this Sow was eaten fome few days
after
in
the City
of
Cali,
and was the chief
Emercainment
at a great FeaO: ; and
that
it
was ordinary to
buy
Pigs
in
the
belly
of the Sow at a hundred ·Pieces of
Eight
a
Pig,
and fometimes more.
He that is defirous to know the exceffive prices which the
Spaniards
gave for
things
in
thofe days amongll: themfelves, let him reade the fore.mentioned Chap–
ter, and then he
will
fee at how mean a rate Gold and Silver wete efreemed
in
comparifon with the Commodities of
Spain :
which proceeded from the great
af–
feffion which the
Spaniard.r
bore to
their
Native Soil, when
firfr
they
planted
them–
felves
i~the
New World; for then they never fcrupled the giving any price for
the things which came from
Spain,
that they might eat them, or breed them, as
if
they
had been
fo
neceffary
co
humane
life,
that no fubfiftence
could
be without
them.
In
the year
1
5'60,
a
good Hog
was
worth ten Pieces
of
Eight at
Co~co,
and
now may
be
had for fix
or
feven ;
and were
it
not
for
the Lard, which, they
fay,
is good to cure
the
Scab, or Murrain, to which
the
Cattel
in
that Counrrey are
much
fubjecr, they
would be much cheaper
:
And al
[o
the
SptJiniard.r,
for want of
Oil
in
thofe Countries, have licence to
drefs
their Meat with
it
on
Fridays,
and
in
Lent.
The
Sqws in
Peru
are
firangefy
fruitfull; for in the year
15
58,
I remember
co
have feen in the Market of
Peru
two Sows,
with
thirty two Pigs, each of them
having brought forth ftxteen Pigs at one farrowing; and when I
Caw
them, they
might be of a Month
old~
and yet they
were fo fat
and
flick,
~ that
one
would
wonder h::>w it were poffible for the Dams
ta
maintain and fuckle fo many of
chem
in
Cuch good plight and
condition.
The
Indian:r
give the Name of
Cuchi
to the Hogs,
which
is a word they have
framed from
Coche, Coche
which
the
Spaniards
utter, when they fpeak to their
Hogs.
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CHAP.