“In all parts of this kingdom of Peru we who have travelled over it know that there are great fairs or markets, where the natives make their bargains. Among these the greatest and richest was formerly in the city of Cuzco, for even in the time of the Spaniards its greatness was caused by the gold which was brought and sold there, and by the other things of all kinds that were sent into the city. But this market or fair at Cuzco did not equal the superb one at Potosí where the traffic was so great that, among the Indians alone, without including Christians, twenty-five or thirty thousand golden pesos exchanged hands daily. This is wonderful, and I believe that no fair in the world can be compared to it. I saw this fair several times, and it is held in a plain near the town. In one place there were baskets of coca, the most valuable product in these parts. In another place there were bales of cloth and fine rich shirtings. Here were heaps of maize, dried potatoes, and other provisions, there great quantities of the best meat in the country. The fair continued from early morning until dusk, and as those Indians got silver every day, and are fond of eating and treating, especially those who have intercourse with Spaniards, they all spent what they got, so that people assembled from all parts with provisions and other necessaries for their support. Many Spaniards became rich in this settlement of Potosí by merely employing two or three Indian women to traffic in the fair. Great numbers of Yanaconas, who are free Indians with the right of serving whom they please, flocked to the fair, and the prettiest girls from Cuzco and all parts of the kingdom were to be met with there. “I observed that many frauds were committed, and that there was little truth spoken. The value of articles was not great, and cloths, linens, and Hollands were sold almost as cheap as in Spain. Indeed, I saw things sold for so small a price that they would have been considered cheap in Seville.”[25] Cieza de León returned to Spain after a sojourn of seventeen years in America. [Sidenote: _Crónica del Perú_] The first fruit of the experience and studies of these seventeen years was _Parte primera de la crónica del Perú_, which treats, according to the sub-title, “of the demarcation of the provinces, the description of them, the foundation of the new cities, the rites and customs of the Indians, and other strange things worthy of being known.” This work was first published at Seville in 1553. The writer found interest in almost every phase of the country and its people, and scholars have accepted his views and conclusions as generally worthy of credence. Through the excellence of its style the book has proved to be one of the most attractive accounts of early Peru, and of the western part of the territory now claimed by the republic of Colombia. [Sidenote: Prescott on Cieza de León]