TEE AREQUIPA STATION. 51 1 



nearly parallel to the coast at a distance of perhaps sixty or seventy 

 miles in an air line. The amount of cloudiness at different distances 

 from the coast varies enormously. A different cloud system prevails 

 on the coast from that in the mountains. The rainy season in the 

 mountains is from November or December to March or April, more 

 or less in different years. Toward the coast the rainfall grows less, 

 while, in general, little or no rain falls within thirty or forty miles 

 of the ocean. In Lima there is no rainy season, but there is an ex- 

 tremely cloudy season. This is due to the low cloud which is found 

 more or less along the whole coast. This coast cloud is most prevalent 

 from May to November. Throughout a large part of the year, however, 

 the coast region of Peru, though almost rainless, is very cloudy. It 

 seemed, therefore, that while the lofty clouds which cause the rainy 

 season in the interior are gradually dissipated many miles from the 

 coast, and the dense coast cloud never extends far away from the ocean, 

 a situation chosen between these two, if such were possible, might, per- 

 haps, escape both. With these ideas in mind a site was selected on an 

 isolated summit, at a distance of about twenty-five miles from the 

 coast, and at an elevation of six thousand five hundred feet. 



The provisional station thus selected was at a distance of about 

 eight miles from the village and hotel of Chosica, in the Rimac 

 Valley, from which all supplies, of both food and water, were obtained. 

 The residents of the hotel were our nearest neighbors, vsdth the excep- 

 tion of occasional wandering herdsmen. In many ways it was an 

 ideal location. It was named Mount Harvard, and became well known 

 in Peru. The outlook was superb. To the east the ranges rose ever 

 higher and higher to the Great Andes; to the west they fell away in 

 numberless crests and wavy lines to the Pacific. Five miles away in a 

 straight line a glimpse of green indicated the valley of the Eimac. 

 The rest was hidden by mountains. In every direction nothing but 

 barren mountains was to be seen. Where the buildings stood the soil 

 was a hard sand, covered here and there with huge bowlders and with 

 many varieties of cacti. To the north and south we looked down into 

 gloomy ravines thousands of feet deep. To the east and west the 

 slopes were more gradual, and there were charming little valleys 

 needing only water to make them spots of beauty. 



The buildings on Mount Harvard were portable structures, carried 

 for the most part from the United States. They were made of a light 

 framework of wood, covered with canvas and heavy paper. These 

 houses and the instruments were conveyed from Chosica on muleback 

 over a trail constructed for the purpose. 



Life on Mount Harvard was somewhat lonely and monotonous, 

 especially for Mrs. Bailey, who seldom enjoyed the society of any 

 woman, except that of our amiable half-breed cook. Perhaps the most 



