=Piura=, the first Department south of Tumbes, is mainly desert, with some fertile irrigated valleys. The culture of a native cotton resembling wool is a leading industry. Other exports are Panamá hats and hides. Near the coast are important oil wells. Paita, with one of the best harbors on the coast, is the first port of call for some of the express steamers from Panamá. Piura, capital of the Department, mean temperature 78°, is in an irrigated valley 60 miles from the desert port Paita, with which it is connected by rail. A line of narrower gauge goes on to Catacaos, population 20,000, six miles distant but nearer the sea, where 300,000 Panamá hats are made yearly. They may be bought at Paita for one fourth, perhaps for one eighth of the price commonly asked for the finer ones in New York. The main railway is to be prolonged from Piura to the town of Moropón. Farther south, from Bayovar, a small port on the Bay of Sechura, a railroad leads 30 miles to the sulphur mines of Reventazón; but the sulphur, an important export, must be cleared from the custom house at Paita. =Lambayeque=, south of Piura, contains large estates of sugar and rice, the chief exports. It has one of the primary coast ports, Etén (population 3000), but a poor one, merely an open roadstead where there is always a swell, at times so severe that debarking passengers must be lowered in a sort of hogshead by windlass, chain, and pulley to the launch or small boat alongside. Freight lowered to lighters is likely here to get a particularly hard bump. An iron pier 2000 feet long is for the use of the lighters. Chiclayo, the capital, is 41 miles by rail from Etén. By this railway and its branches, Ferreñafe, Lambayeque, and Patapó may also be reached. From Pimentel, a minor port, a shorter railway runs to Chiclayo. From the Lobos Islands off the coast much guano was formerly taken. =La Libertad=, the larger Department following, has two primary ports, the first, Pacasmayo, a short sail from Etén. From Pacasmayo 85 miles of railway lead up country to the towns Guadalupe and Chilete. From Chilete the road should be carried over the Cordillera to the important city of Cajamarca, 50 miles beyond, whither Pizarro marched nearly 400 years ago; but the grades would be difficult and the road awaits the supply of more pressing needs. Another long pier serves the port of Pacasmayo, from which are shipped sugar, rice, fruit, etc. Sixty-six miles farther is the primary port of Salaverry, population 5000.