CLIMATE OF NORTHERN PERU. 47 



Before returning to the Islay, I had the advantage 

 of a short conversation with the very intelhgent 

 gentleman who acts as British consular agent at 

 Payta, and whose ability would perhaps be seen to 

 advantage in a more conspicuous post. The infor- 

 mation received from him fully confirmed the im- 

 pressions formed during my short excursion. The 

 appearance of the gullies that furrow the seaward 

 face of the plateau sufficiently showed that, however 

 infrequent they may be, heavy rains must some- 

 times visit this part of the coast. I now learned 

 that, in point of fact, abundant rain lasting for 

 several days recurs at intervals of three or four 

 years, the last having been seen in the year 1879. 

 As happens everywhere else in the arid coast zone, 

 extending nearly two thousand miles from Payta to 

 Coquimbo in North Chili, abundant rainfall is speedily 

 followed by an outburst of herbaceous vegetation 

 covering the surfaces that have so long been bare. 

 During the long dry intervals slight showers occur 

 occasionally a few times in each year. These are 

 quite insufficient to cause any general appearance of 

 fresh vegetation, but suffice, it would seem, to main- 

 tain the vitality of the few species that hold their 

 ground persistently. The ordinary supply of water 

 in Payta, obtained from a stream descending from 

 the Andes seventeen miles distant, is carried by 

 donkeys that are despatched every morning for the 

 purpose. There was something quite strange in the 

 appearance of a few bundles of fresh grass which we 

 saw in the plaza. They had come that morning by 

 the same conveyance for the support of the very few 



