112 Mv Cruckshanks's Excursion from Lima to Pasco. 



we had with us three English workmen belonging to the Com- 

 pany, a servant, and three muleteers : eight laden mules com- 

 pleted the cavalcade. 



" On leaving Lima, the road proceeds for about a league to- 

 wards the coast, to a place called Arnipuquio, and then, round- 

 ing the hills that separate the two vallies, enters that of Chillon 

 and turns inland. The Scotch-misty weather, the winter of the 

 coast, had lately set in, and the hills were beginning to show the 

 effects of the moisture, being thinly clad with verdure wherever 

 a covering of soil had accumulated on the rock. About half a 

 league out of Lima in this direction, there is a little valley bound- 

 ed by very high hills, called Los Amancaes, from the vast num- 

 ber of these flowers that appear there at the beginning of winter- 

 The great height of the hills encourages a plentiful deposition of 

 moisture, which produces a more abundant vegetation than is 

 usually seen on the coast. After the rains have ceased in the 

 interior, the Indians who rear cattle there are accustomed to drive 

 them down to different parts of the hills and vallies in the low 

 country, till they reach the coast ; and at this season, a consider- 

 able number of small flocks and herds are brought to feed at 

 Los Amancaes. During their stay, the place presents the ap- 

 pearance of a fair, from the number of people who go out to pic- 

 nic, and spend the day in roaming among the hills and decking 

 themselves with the flowers, or in dancing, horse-racing, and other 

 sports. This annual 'promenade commences on St John's day, 

 the Amancaes being then in full flower ; and from an early hour, 

 a great part of the motley population of Lima are seen swarming 

 towards the hills, gaily dressed in all sorts of colours, of brighter 

 hue, but not more varied in their tints than the complexions of 

 the wearers. When the day is fine and the mist confined to the 

 hills, the scene is singularly picturesque. On one hand, the 

 steep rocky sides of the valley are studded with cattle tended by 

 their Indian owners, and gradually disappearing in the mist as 

 they wind among the hills, the plain below, extending to the 

 main valley of the Rimac, is covered with groupes engaged in 

 various sports, and fresh parties constantly arriving ; while, on 

 the opposite side of the river, with distant mountains for a back- 

 ground, the white spires of the city are seen through the groves 

 of orange-trees in the gardens of the suburbs ; and lower down, 



