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BooK
IX.
Royal Commentaries,.
CH A P.
XXVII;
Of the Olive Plants, and who brought them firfl to
PerÜ.
I
N
the fame Year of
1560.
Don Antoniq de Ribera,;'
an lnhabitant of the
Ci~y
of
'
/0.1
R~CJ,
who had been Procruator General of
Peru,
and lived fome time
there; and going afcerwards into
Spain,
and returning back again, he brought with
him frorn
Seville
feveral Olive Plants, which he carefully faved, and put up
in
two gi:ear Jars, and of above a hundred which he had broughr, there were bue
three ílips onely that were alive, the which he plamed in a fruitfull Soil and V
al–
ley, wherein he having alfo other Fruirs, fuch as Grapes) Figgs, Pomegranats and
Oranges, Limes, and the like, with Pulfe, and &!eds of
Spain,
he fold
them
publick–
ly inthe Markec-place_ofthat Cicy, which being newFruir, were bought up at any
prices, and as I am informed for certain, that he made above two hundred thoufand
Pieces of Eight thereof.
Don Antonio de Ribera
having planted thefe Olive Trees·
in
bis
own Land, would not afford fo much as one Leafofthem to be planced in
any qther Ground than his own; and for fecurity of them he guarded them widt
at leaft one hundred Negroes, and thircy Dogs, which warched
his
rich Planea"'.
tions bo~h by day and night; but it happening out that fome pérfons, more watch–
'full
than his Dogs, and perhaps by.che connivance or confent of the Negroes, (as–
ís
to be fufpeéted) fiole away in the nighc time one of the three Olive Planes •
che which, in fome time after, was feen to flourifh and gr0w in
Chi!i,
being above
fix hundred Leagues from che City of
Lo,
Reye1
;
and there for the fpace ofthreé
·Years affotded rnany fprouts for divers Plantations, increafing with that profperous
fuccefs, tbat not che leaft twig was put into 'the ground, but which took, and
in
a
fhort nime became a
fair
Olive Tree.
.
Don Antcnio,de Ribera,
for recovery of his Planes, having procured many Ex..:
communicacions againft the Auchours of thi? Thefc; at che end of three years ic,
carne 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-,
cericy recurned, that che Mafier could never deteél: the Perfon who had robbed:
him of
it.
The Olive-plancations have thrived beccer
in
Chi!i,
than they have
done in
Pene;
che reafon whereof may be, becaufe the Climate of
Chi'li
may be,
more agreeable to them, being fituate from thircy to
forcy
degrees, being almofi of
the fame temperature wich
Spain;
and in
Peru
they thrive better in che Hills thali
in che Plains. Ac firft three or four Olives•were a great Treac far a Stranger, bue
now at this time they bring Oil from
Chili
co
Peru.
And chus much fhall ferve to
have fpoken conceming che firft plantations of Olives in my Countrey; let us
proce~a to 0ther P,lants, Pulfo and Seeds, which were not originally
in
my
Coun-·
trey.
C HAP.
39
1