Mr Cruckshanks's Excursion from Lima to Pasco. 125 



straggling lanes, the houses are small and dark, and the mass 

 of the people squalid and miserable. Heaps of refuse from the 

 mines surround the town, which is built immediately over some 

 of them, and there are many shafts opening into the public 

 roads without any fence or covering, so that, on a dark night, it 

 is impossible to pass from one part of the town to another with- 

 out imminent risk. 



" I was struck here, as at Huayllay, by the gloomy aspect 

 of the scene, notwithstanding the sun was shining in the midst 

 of a bright sky ; but I soon perceived that the very clearness 

 of the sky was the cause of this phenomenon. From the per- 

 fect transparency of the atmosphere, the suns rays are unim- 

 peded, and a dazzling light falls on objects directly exposed to 

 their influence, while those that are in the shade receive very 

 little indirect light from the dark blue heavens ; and thus, a 

 striking contrast is produced between the glare of the illuminated 

 surfaces and the unrelieved shade, very different from the effect 

 of the diffused light in the hazy atmosphere of the coast. This 

 gloomy effect is increased by the total absence of trees, and the 

 general prevalence of sombre hues in the surrounding objects : 

 the hills of bluish limestoue, with the meagre unhealthy vegeta- 

 tion thinly scattered upon them ; the stagnant lakes, buried in 

 their recesses, and reflecting their darkened images ; the decay- 

 ed thatch of the houses ; the grey and brown dresses of the In- 

 dians, whose dark faces are mottled with purple blotches from 

 constant exposure to the bleak atmosphere of the Cordillera, all 

 conspire to increase the sadness of the scene, which looks as if 

 a neutral tint were passed over the whole landscape. But all 

 this is amply compensated by the beauty of the nights in fine 

 weather, especially on the hills above the town, which command 

 a view of the snowy ranges that surround the plains of Bour- 

 bon ; the colour of the sky is deep indigo, and the stars shine 

 with a splendour that can be but faintly conceived by those 

 who have witnessed their brilliance on a clear frosty night in 

 Britain. 



" While in Pasco, I received several letters from Dr Peep- 

 pig, who crossed the Cordillera about a fortnight before us. He 

 had suffered severely from the puna, and continued dangerously 

 ill during the hw days he remained in Pasco, from whence he 



