Mr Ciuckshanks's Excursion from Lima to Pasco. 123 



subsoil in the low grounds is always saturated with moisture, 

 and numerous springs issue from the surface. On the plains 

 and slopes of the hills, there is, all the year, an abundance of 

 grass, which serves to pasture large flocks of sheep for the sup- 

 ply of the vallies and the towns on the coast. 



" Owing to the badness of the road, our progress had been 

 so slow that it was long after dark when we arrived at a ravine, 

 down which we continued to Huayllay, a small Indian town, and 

 the centre of a mining district, eight leagues from Casa-cancha. 

 The monotonous appearance of the hills among which we had tra- 

 velled, at a very slow pace, the intolerable headach we suffered, 

 and the benumbing cold of the evening wind, made this altoge- 

 ther a fatiguing and unpleasant day's journey. 



" One of our party, a Spaniard, conducted us to the house 

 of the Governor, who was his countryman. He had been a sol- 

 dier in the Spanish army, but having married an Indian woman 

 of Huayllay, he settled in the town, where his intelligence and 

 activity procured him the office of Governor ; to which he ad- 

 ded the profession of a miner, and the trade of a shopkeeper. 

 Our apartment was in keeping with the mixed pursuits of the 

 master of the house ; the table was covered with papers relative 

 to the number of recruits, and the tribute to be furnished by the 

 Indians under his jurisdiction ; a heap of silver ore occupied a 

 corner of the mud floor, and candles, sugar, jars of spirits, and 

 similar merchandise were spread around, with very little regard 

 to arrangement. Our host and his dark lady vied with each 

 other in ministering to our wants ; and, stretched on the floor 

 of their domicile, we soon forgot the puna and our tedious ride 

 from Casa-cancha. 



" In the morning, we were again greeted by the glittering 

 hoar frost, which added to the desolate and wintry aspect of the 

 town and surrounding hills, where not a tree nor a trace of cul- 

 tivation was to be seen. All the corn and vegetables consumed 

 by the inhabitants are brought up from the vallies, and have to 

 be carried fifteen or twenty leagues. 



" Having arrived at Huayllay at night, we had not perceived 

 that the valley in which it stands passed through an extensive 

 formation of trachyte. A small stream runs in the bottom, 

 from which a steep grassy slope rises on each side, surmounted 



