44 Historical 



Quito had fortified their constitutions against such fatigue. However 

 I was told that at Potosi (about 13,000 feet) foreigners do not become 

 accustomed to the atmosphere until they have dwelt there a whole year. 

 The natives all recommend onions for the puna ... as for me, I found 

 nothing equal to fossil shells! (Vol. Ill, p. 393.) 



The English officers Smyth and Lowe, 38 who undertook a jour- 

 ney in 1834 to find a navigable passage to the Atlantic by way of 

 the Pachitea, the Ucayali, and the Amazon, crossed the Cordillera 

 much nearer the equator. They left Lima September 20, 1834. 

 September 25, a little beyond Pucachaca, the illness attacked them: 



The air became very cold ... we began to feel what is commonly 

 called the veta or marea (seasickness), which consists of an acute pain 

 through the temples and the lower and back part of the head, and 

 which completely prostrates those attacked by it. ... (P. 25.) 



They reached Cerro de Pasco September 28: 



Because of the altitude, and especially while we were ascending, 

 we felt a difficulty in breathing which oppresses the lungs, especially 

 in new-comers; but after some time, the lungs become accustomed to 

 the condition of the atmosphere, and this illness disappears. (P. 42.) 



Moreover, these facts were so well known in the mountainous 

 regions of South America, that in 1842 a Scotch physician, Archi- 

 bald Smith, 3 ' 1 summarized in the following words the notes he had 

 collected during a journey to Peru: 



Veta, Soroche, la Puna, Mareo de la Cordillera. A headache with 

 throbbing and a painful sensation of fullness in the temples, combined 

 with a great oppression and tension of the lungs, and frequently with 

 stomach disorders, are the symptoms usually felt during the first days 

 when crossing the Cordilleras or staying in Cerro de Pasco. If one 

 walks quickly, especially if one climbs a hill, he feels extreme fullness 

 in the chest, the temporal arteries throb violently, and headaches come 

 on. If one tries to run, these symptoms appear immediately, and he 

 is glad to stop and regain breath. Breathing a frosty air, July 3 at 

 midnight, in a miserable hut in the pass of Tucto (4855 meters), gave 

 me an excruciating sensation along the tracheal artery; until I began 

 the descent, I constantly felt afraid that some blood vessel had opened 

 in my lungs . . . On another occasion, on another route . . . my breath- 

 ing was panting and difficult. 



Many young persons become accustomed to the effects of the rare- 

 fied air, so that they have headaches and dyspnea only during strenu- 

 ous exercise. Some persons, on the contrary, and especially the ple- 

 thoric, cannot cross the Cordillera or live in Cerro de Pasco without 

 headaches and respiratory difficulties; when they cross the Cordillera, 

 traveling over these lofty and icy plains which the natives call Puna, 

 they are very likely to suffer from epistaxis. (Vol. LVII, p. 356; 1842.) 



