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BooK
IX.
Royal Commentaries.
CH AP.
XX
VII.
.
,
Of the Olive P/ants, and who brought
thent
firft to
Peru.
I
N
the fame
Year of
1
)60.
Don Antonio de Rihera;
an Inhabitant of the City of
/os Reyes,
who had been Procw·ator General of
Peru.,
and lived fome time
there; and going afterwards into
Spain,
and.returning back again, he brought
wi~h
him
fr01-g
Seville
feveral Olive Planes, wh1ch he carefully faved, and put up
m
two
great Jars,
and of above
a
hundred which
he
had brought, there were but
three flips
onely
tha~
were alive, the
~hich
he planted
in a
.fruitfull Soil and
Val–
ley, wherein
he
havmg a!fo
oth~r
Frrncs,
fuch
as
Grapes,
~1ggs,
Pomegranars
~nd
Oranges,
Limes,
and the like, w1thPulfe, and Seeds of
Spam,
he fold them pubhck–
ly
in
theMarket-place ofthat City, which being new Fruit, were bought up at any
prices, and as I am informed for certain, that he made above two hundred thoufand
· Pieces
of Eight thereof.
l!Jon Antonio
de Ribera
having planted thefe Olive Trees
in
his
own Land, would not afford
fo
much as one Leaf of them to be planted
in
any other Ground than his own; and for fecurity of them he guarded them with
at leaft one hundred Negroes, and thirty Dogs, which watched his rich
Planta~
tions both by day and night; but
it
happening out that fome perfons, more watch–
full than his Dogs, and perhaps
by
the connivance or confent of the Negroes, (as
is to be fufpetl:ed) fiole away
in
the night .time one of
the=
three
Olive
Plants,
the which,
in
fome time after, was feen to flourilh and
gr0w
in
Chili,
being above
fix
hundred Leagues from the City of
Las Reyes;
and there for the fpace of three
-Years afforded many fproucs for divers Plantations, iru:reafing with that profperous
fuccefS, that not the leaft twig was put into
the
ground, but which took, and in a
lhort time became a
fair
Olive Tree.
39
1
Don Antcnio de Rihera,
for recovery of his Plants, having procured many Ex–
communications againll: the Authours of this Thefc; at the end of three years
it
came to pafs,
that
the fame Tree was again refiored, and replanted in the very
fame place from whence it had been taken, with that fecrecy, and with that dex–
terity returned, that the
Mafrer
could never detelt the Perfon who had robbed
him of
it.
The Olive-plantations have thrived better
in
Chili,
than rhey have
done
in
Per11-;
the reafon whereof may be, becaufe the Climate of
Chili
may
be
more agreeable
co
them, being fituate from thirty to
forty
degrees, being almofi of
.~
the fame temperature with
Spain;
and in
Pe-n~
they thrive better
in
the Hills than
in the Plains. At firft three or four Olives were a great Treat for a Stranger,
but
now at this time they bring Oil
from
Chili
to
Peru.
And thus much !ball ferve to
l1ave fpoken concerning the
firft
plantations of Olives in my Countrey; let us
proceed to other Plants, Pulfe and Seeds, which were not originally
in
my
Coun·
trey.
·
•
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