Two widely different attractions claim the attention of all visitors to Trujillo,—the wonderful archæological ruins and the famous Chicama Valley. Between the city and the sea extend the crumbling walls of Chan-Chan and the Huacas of Moche, while northward, after a railway journey of less than an hour, the traveller enters the blooming gardens and green-mantled fields of a country overflowing with the bounties of a perennial harvest. Chan-Chan covers a desert tract about fifty square miles in circumference less than a league north of the capital, and just beyond the little Indian village of Mansiche, on the road to the seaport Huanchaco. It is said that rich treasure lies buried somewhere under the modest little cluster of huts named Mansiche in honor of a great cacique of the place. But one hears constantly of buried treasure in Trujillo. The _peje chica_ and the _peje grande_—“little fish” and the “big fish”—are magic words to those who understand. Every traveller who possesses an imagination susceptible to the influence of mystery and tradition must succumb to the glittering charm of the _peje chica_, and feel the gold-hunter’s enthusiasm when brought into the realm of the _peje grande_. As the horses jog along the road that leads from the city to the ruins, visions of hidden treasure throw a glamour over the most commonplace scenes, and every mound by the roadside is an object of curiosity as a possible repository for treasure. It is a matter of history that soon after the Conquest a vast fortune was unearthed at Chan-Chan, of which the king’s fifth amounted to a million dollars in value, this treasure being known as the _peje chica_. One version of the story tells that the cacique of Mansiche, who had observed with particular attention the kindness of a young Spaniard toward the people of the conquered race, and had noticed also that he was very poor, revealed the secret of the hiding-place of the _peje chica_, on condition that a portion of the wealth should be used to advance the interests of the Indians. The most valuable article discovered was in the form of a fish, of solid gold, and so large that the Spaniards considered it a rare prize; but the cacique assured his young friend that it was only the “little fish” and that a much greater treasure existed in the “big fish,” worth many times the value of this one. The sequel to the story is that the Spaniard forgot his promise, went off to Spain and spent all his gold, and was returning to get the _peje grande_, of which he made great boasts, when he was thrown from his horse and killed. From that day to the present, treasure hunters have dug into the _huacas_ of Chan-Chan and Moche with faith and persistence,—but without finding the _peje grande_. Many interesting relics of the ancient civilization have been unearthed, and the present prefect of Trujillo, Dr. Carlos Velarde, has accomplished a notable work in the excavation of the great wall of Chan-Chan, covered with carvings