None of the agricultural products above named are confined to the coast region. In the lower inter-Andean valleys and on the higher levels of the Montaña sugar, cotton, and rice are successfully grown, though not as the chief industry, except in the case of sugar, which is a staple product of all the interior valleys. Tobacco thrives better in the interior than on the coast, though the province of Tumbes produces some of the best tobacco of South America. Maize is cultivated in every department, and in every region except on the high _puna_. It may be seen growing on the plantations of the coast, in the inter-Andean valleys, and in the Montaña, and furnishes the Indian’s chief article of food and drink; the native _chicha_, once the favorite beverage of the Incas, is made from this product. Maize is to the Peruvian Indian what rice is to the Oriental, the foundation of his _cuisine_. The history of its discovery is interesting. It is said that, when Christopher Columbus landed on the Island of San Salvador in the Bahamas, in 1492, he and his followers were surprised to find that the natives prepared a most palatable food from a plant that was quite unknown to the conquerors and had never been seen in Europe. The natives called it _mahiz_, which the Spaniards corrupted into _maiz_ (pronounced like the English word “mice”), and it has ever since retained this name, having become one of the principal agricultural products of the world. The valley of Chancay is famous for its maize, the production of this district alone amounting to about ten thousand tons annually; though Cuzco enjoys the reputation of growing the largest maize in the world, with grains the size of a large bean. Peruvian maize won a gold medal at the St. Louis Exposition in 1906, and was the subject of great interest among agriculturists. [Illustration: PATAPO, DEPARTMENT OF LAMBAYEQUE.]