Lofty Regions of the Globe 19 



meters lower, pastures stocked with llamas, ostriches, etc., assure 

 them abundant food. 



Human dwellings obey the same law. In central Europe, only 

 a few villages are at a greater altitude than 1500 meters; the high- 

 est in the Pyrenees, Porte, is at an altitude of 1625 meters; Saint- 

 Veran, in the Upper Alps, and Soglio, in the Rhetian Alps, are 2050 

 meters high. Above that height, there are only a few chalets un- 

 occupied in winter. The monastery of Saint Gothard is at an alti- 

 tude of 2090 meters, that of Bernina at 2300 meters; the highest 

 of the summer pastures to which the Alpine shepherds go is that 

 of Fluhalpe, at 2550 meters, and we know that a sufficient number 

 pf monks can be kept at the monastery of the Grand Saint Bernard 

 (2470 meters) only by means of the double attraction of heavenly 

 rewards and fat Italian prebends promised to the monks after some 

 years of painful sojourn on the mountain. 



In the Rocky Mountains, Central City is at an elevation of 

 3460 meters on the side of Long's Peak (40° lat. N.). 



In the Andes, not only villages but also populous cities are built 

 in large numbers in lofty places. Mexico City is at 2290 meters, 

 Santa Fe de Bogota at 2560 meters, Quito with its 60,000 inhabit- 

 ants at 2910 meters, Cuzco at 3470 meters, Micuipampa at 3620 

 meters, La Paz at 3720 meters, Puno at 3920 meters, Tacora at 4170 

 meters; Potosi, which formerly had more than 100,000 inhabitants, 

 is at 4165 meters, Oruro at 4090 meters, Torata at 4175 meters, 

 Portugalete at 4290 meters, Cerro de Pasco at 4350 meters; in Peru 

 and Bolivia, the larger part of the population lives above 3000 

 meters. 9 Villages and dairy farms are at still higher levels. The 

 mines of Chouta are operated at 4480 meters, those of Huancavelica 

 at 4655 meters, those of Villacota at 5042 meters (Pissiz) . The post- 

 house of Rumihuani, on Illimani, is at 4740 meters. The railroad 

 from Arequipa to Puno, as we have seen, crosses the Cordillera at 

 an elevation of 4460 meters, and that from Callao to Oroya at its 

 highest point has a tunnel at 4760 meters; now these gigantic feats 

 required the prolonged sojourn of a great number of workmen. 



In the Himalayas, man has established his dwelling at heights 

 just as astonishing. According to the Schlagintweit brothers, the 

 capital of Little Thibet, Leh, is built at 3505 meters; in the same 

 country, Muglab and Kibar, cities built of stone, are at 4150 and 

 4220 meters; the village of Chushul, highest in the Himalayas among 

 those which are inhabited all year long, is at 4390 meters; the 

 Buddhist monastery of Hanle, in Ladak, is at 4610 meters; about 

 twenty lamas live there. The villages inhabited only during the 



