4 ANACCOUNTOFTHE 



nightfell we Avere travelling south, and quite near to the base of one of the outer 

 ranges. Here we found, both then and on the journey back, that the direction of 

 the wind Avas parallel with the mountains, and its force less than half Avhat we 

 experienced in crossing the plateau between Payta and Vicuz. Although it drives 

 clouds of a fine and almost impalpable sand along with it, and their volume 

 depends upon its velocity, at any diminution of the last the traveller instantly 

 suffers from a great apparent increase of temperature. On this day our guide lost 

 the track, and we were detained some hours whilst he was searching for it. 



Our destination was Tortolitas — a name given to two or three scattered ranchos 

 near a small spring of very brackish water. A headache, unquenchable thirst, and 

 fever experienced during the last five hours of the journey thither, Avere attributed 

 to the exposure and fatigues of the day, nor Avas I undeceived until tAVo days after- 

 Avard, On arriving, Ave learned that as there Avas scarcely Avater to supply the 

 people and their limited number of goats and pigs, none could be afforded for our 

 mules. But the hospitality of their humble shelter Avas readily granted, and scanty 

 as was their supply and late as Avas the hour, the best of their food Avas freely 

 prepared for us. 



On the morning of the 3d the mules Avere suffering for Avant of Avater. We 

 therefore started earlier than usual, intending to make a halt at Xaupe, another 

 collection of scattered ranchos, 5 leagues from Tortolitas, and near Avhich there is 

 a better supply of Avater. At seven miles from Kaupe Ave crossed a Ioav pass in 

 the outer broken range of the Andes, and descended on the S. E. side to the level 

 of the plain just left. The summit Avas reached about sunrise, and Ave once more 

 had the pleasure to Avitness the solar rays unobstructed by clouds, at that hour. 

 At the same time, however, all the lower elevations, as Avell as the plain to the 

 AvestAvard, were obscured under a veil so impenetrable that there Avas not one 

 illuminated point visible in that direction. 



Owing to the distance of the spring from the rancho Avhere Ave halted, and the 

 sloAvness Avith Avhich the Avater flowed, Ave Avere detained until 2 P. M., making it 

 necessary to ride until quite a late hour. So long as the track could be distin- 

 guished, and there Avas no danger of going astray, as Ave escaped both heat and dust, 

 this Avas the most pleasant period for travelling ; but as Ave had tAvice been lost in 

 broad daylight, and more than one had been known to perish of thirst on that deso- 

 late level, Ave necessarily moved Avith caution. This night Avas remarkably clear 

 — surpassing the transparency of atmosphere witnessed in Chile so frequently — 

 indeed, the planet Venus cast a well-defined shadoAV as late as 8 P. M. At 11 

 o'clock Ave camped on the sand for the night, having traA'elled about 25 miles over 

 a country similar to that already mentioned. 



Starting before sunrise on the morning of the 4th, Ave reached Olmos at 1 1 A. M. 

 The last four or five miles of the journey is near the dry bed of a water-course, 

 Avhose banks are covered Avitli majestic trees of various descriptions. Here too 

 there are a great many patches of cultivated ground. As the region is, in fact, 

 Avithin the Andean ranges, and the population reasonably expect one shoAver of rain 

 during the year, they prepare the ground and put in the seed. If the rain fails, 

 they dig in the dry bed of the Avater-course and obtain Avater enough for irrigating 



