192 EELATION BETWEEN CLIMATE AND VEGETATION 



short veqetation * of these regions, and whicli supports nothing 

 but the Alpaca. Near the town I found a narrow slip of wheat 

 and barley and of beans in flower, but tliese plants seemed quite 

 out of their element on the banks of a torrent and amongst 

 rugged barren rocks. 



La Paz, in spite of its rather rigorous climate, f and the sterility 

 of its neighbourhood, ought to have one of the finest markets in 

 Bolivia, for it is connected with the fertile province of Yungas 

 not only by the road along which I had come, and which was 

 made for the sole purpose of facilitating the extraction of Coca, 

 but also by the bed of its river, a still more direct route. The 

 banks of this stream afford the only place where the inhabitants 

 of La Paz can cultivate any plants ; and near the town the 

 ground fit for this purpose is very limited in extent, although 

 lower down, where the climate is milder, it occupies a larger 

 area and yields most of the products of the south of France. At 

 no greater distance than 4 leagues from the town there are mag- 

 nificent vineyards, abundance of Figs, and a little lower, near the 

 base of the majestic Illimani, there is a plantation of olive-trees. 



The rainy season, which had already set in, compelled me to 

 abandon my plan of visiting the provinces of Sorata and Cau- 

 polican, or Apolobamba, and instead, I determined to pay a visit 

 to the famous lake of Chuquito or Titicaca, and so to arrive at 

 Arequipa. 



Accordingly on the 11th of January, 1847, 1 left La Paz, and 

 crossed a Puna, the vegetation of which consisted of thin tufts of 

 a yellow grass left even by the Llamas, until I came to Tia- 

 huanaco, from which tlie lake is 4 leagues distant, as is also its 

 outlet the Desaguadero, which separates Bolivia from Peru. I 

 directed my steps to the village of Guarina, crossing some 

 tolerably high hills and then a plain in part inundated by the late 

 rains. Several streams which flow into the lake also cross this 

 district ; these I passed on a curious contrivance of two great 

 cylinders or bundles of rushes tied together and rising to a point 

 at their extremities. This rush, very like our Scirpus lacustris, 

 is very conmion near the lake, and was the largest plant I had 

 met with since leaving La Paz. The most common vegetables of 

 this country are the potato, barley, Quinoa, and the Ulluco. On 

 the 20th I arrived at the strait of Tiquina, which joins the two 



* The grasses -which form the pasturages of the Punas belong to the 

 genera Stipa, Festuca, Bromus, Dei/euxia, Erayrostis, Fva, Ayrostis, Chon- 

 drositim, Clomena, Trisetum, &c. 



f The mean temperature of this town is, according to Mr, Pentland, 

 about 9 • 5^ C. In the hottest month, December, the thermometer is seldom 

 higher than 18° C. ; and in the coldest month, June, it very seldom freezes 

 in the daytime. 



