ON THE PACIFIC COAST 331 



of Mancora. The peaks are often truncated cones, so symmetrical 

 that until closely examined they might be supposed the work of 

 art. 



... At a little way within its mouth the river is only from So 

 to 100 yards wide, and this average breadth is preserved, so far as 

 I can learn, for at least 50 miles up. It is of no great depth, for, 

 when at its lowest, a man may wade over it in most places with 

 at least his head out of water ; but as the current is pretty strong, 

 and there are some deep holes, it is considered unsafe to ford it 

 on horseback. . . . Very rarely, and with risk and difficulty, are 

 heavy goods conveyed on a raft for a few miles up the stream. 

 There are no bridges across it, but ferries are established at the 

 villages and principal farms. The fluctuations of level throughout 

 the entire year rarely reach 10 feet, but in the anos de agua or 

 rainy years there have sometimes been floods to a much greater 

 height. 



In ascending the valley of the Chira we come on a series of 

 alternating contractions and lake-like expansions, the latter at one 

 period no doubt really lakes. A little above the village of 

 Amotape, 1 1 miles from the sea, following the course of the river, 

 but only 7 in a straight line, the valley contracts, so that from the 

 base of the hills on one side to the base of those on the other 

 there is barely half a mile. From this point to above the small 

 village of Tangarara, on the right bank, a distance of 15 English 

 miles along the course of the river, there has been a large lake of 

 a long oval form, the ancient margin retiring from the actual river- 

 bank at one point on the north side nearly 3^ miles, and having 

 an average distance of 2 miles. Deep furrows, like river-courses, 

 extend from the widest part (called Monte Abierto) to the 

 adjacent hills, and in the rainy years rivers again run along them 

 and enlarge their beds. On the south side the space betueen the 

 river and the base of the cliffs is also of considerable breadth, and 

 has on it the villages of La Huaca and Bibiate in its lower part, 

 and higher up the large farm of Macacara, 10 miles from 

 Amotape. 



There are similar contractions of the valley, with intermediate 

 lake-like expansions, up to 52 miles from the coast. 



On examining the cliffs that bound the valley of the Chira. we 

 imd them to consist chiefly of alternating hcri/ontal layers of \vr\ 

 various composition, some of them apparently repeated at various 

 depths. The uppermost stratum is in many parts a calcareous 

 sandstone, of minute fragments of shells, grains of quart/, etc., 

 more or less compactly welded together, When of open texture 

 it is the material for the filtering-stones, which are largely manu- 

 factured at Payta, and are not only used throughout the province, 

 but are exported to Guayaquil and other ports along the coast. . . . 



