46 Historical 



One can compare this disease approximately to seasickness (whence 

 its name of Mareo) ; but it alone produces respiratory distress. It is 

 not unusual to see these symptoms become so serious that they cause 

 the death of travellers. In 1839 at Pachachaca I met an officer who 

 was carrying dispatches from Lima to Cuzco, but who, one year, while 

 crossing at the Piedra parada, died in consequence of pulmonary and 

 intestinal hemorrhages caused by the Veta. All residents on the sea- 

 coast and the Europeans who are crossing the high Cordilleras for the 

 first time feel this illness which is usually not persistent in healthy 

 persons, but which attacks severely those who are weak, nervous, with 

 diseases of the lungs or heart, and also the plethoric and the obese. A 

 German trader from Lima, a very corpulent man, who had gone to 

 Cerro de Pasco on business, at the end of a few hours had to leave the 

 city rapidly, and descend into the valley to escape the Puna. 



By a long stay in these lofty regions, the organism becomes ac- 

 customed to this effect of rarefied air. Vigorous Europeans can even 

 climb the highest mountains nimbly and move about there as freely 

 as on the coast. I had the Veta only twice, but very severely; once on 

 a lofty plateau, and once on the mountain of Antaichahua. The first 

 time I crossed the Cordillera, I did not feel the least inconvenience, 

 and I was able, getting off my tired horse, to walk a long way without 

 feeling symptoms of the Veta, so that I thought I was completely im- 

 mune to it. . . . 



The Indians of the mountains, who have been living since child- 

 hood in this rarefied air, are not subject to the Veta. . . . The physicians 

 of Lima are accustomed to send to the mountains persons who suffer 

 from prostration, so that the pure air may give them back their 

 strength; but there they are attacked by the Veta most severely, and 

 often lose their lives in the Cordillera .... 



The Puna seems to have a worse effect upon certain domestic 

 animals than upon man himself. This is particularly true of cats; these 

 animals cannot live above an altitude of 13,000 feet. They have often 

 been brought to lofty villages, but always in vain, for after a few days 

 they were seized by terrible convulsions like those of epilepsy to which 

 they succumb. . . . These sick cats do not try to bite, or to run away. . . . 

 In this country they are called azorochados and are given antimony. 

 The delicate breeds of dogs are also affected, but not so seriously. 



Travellers in the Cordilleras are also subject to symptoms known 

 by the name of Surumpe. . . . These are eye affections due to the effect 

 of the reflection of the sun on the snow. (Vol. II, p. 66 et seq.) 



In his ascent of the Cordillera, Tschudi for the first time saw 

 horses attacked by the veta, at the elevation of about 4000 meters: 



First they walk more slowly, stop frequently, tremble all over, and 

 are prostrated. The higher they ascend, the harder they tremble, and 

 the oftener they fall. If they are not unsaddled, if they are not allowed 

 to rest completely, they lie down on the ground. The arrieros bleed an 

 animal in this condition in four places: at the end of the tail, on the 

 palate, on the two ears; they often cut their ears and tail half -off 

 and split their nostrils to the width of several inches. This last method 



