ANCIENT INDIAN TERRACES. 75 



is now visible, and some trickling rivulets are perceived 

 in the channels of the ravines. On the opposite, or 

 northern, slope are still distinctly seen the terraces by 

 which in ancient days the industrious Indian popula- 

 tion carried cultivation up the precipitous slopes to 

 a height of more than fifteen hundred feet above the 

 bed of the valley. For in this land, before the 

 Spaniard destroyed its simple civilization and reduced 

 the larger part to a wilderness, the pressure of popula- 

 tion was felt as it now is in the southern valleys of 

 the Alps. The fact that terrace cultivation com- 

 menced precisely in the part of the valley where we 

 now find streamlets from the flanks of the high 

 mountains above, which might be used for partial 

 irrigation, tends to show that no considerable change 

 of climate has occurred. 



Before reaching the Surco station (forty-eight 

 miles from Lima, and 6655 feet above the sea) the 

 road finally abandons the Rimac, and commences 

 the seemingly formidable ascent of the declivity 

 above the left bank. For some distance a projecting 

 buttress with a moderate slope enabled the engineers 

 to accomplish the ascent by long winding curves ; but 

 before long we reached the first zigzags, which are 

 frequently repeated during the remainder of the 

 ascent. The tunnels are frequent, but fortunately 

 for the most part short, as the rate of travelling is 

 necessarily slow, and the artificial fuel used gives 

 out black fumes of a stifling character. A further 

 change of climate, welcome to the botanist, was now 

 very obvious. Although the soil appears to be 

 parched, it is clear that some slight rain must recur 



