ALPINE REGION IN THE ANDES. 91 



the fields better kept than one could have expected in 

 a spot so remote, each with a clump of well-grown 

 trees of the Peruvian elder. Higher up the scenery 

 was constantly wilder, desolate rather than grand, and 

 with no trace of the presence of man until we reached 

 Casapalta, a small group of poor sheds now occupied 

 by an outpost of Chilian soldiers, nearly fourteen 

 thousand feet above the sea. 



We had now evidently reached the true Alpine 

 region. At the head of the valley in front fresh snow 

 lay on the flanks of the mountains where the dark 

 rugged masses of volcanic rock were not too steep to 

 allow it to rest, and the higher summits in the back- 

 ground were completely covered. The slopes near at 

 hand were carpeted with dwarf plants thickly set, 

 rising only a few inches from the surface. The only 

 exception was an erect spiny bush, growing about 

 eighteen inches high, with dark orange flowers, one 

 of the characteristic Andean forms — Clmquiraga 

 spiiiosa. 



The guide seemed disposed to halt here, but we 

 had not yet reached our goal, and we pushed on 

 for about three miles, to a point about 14,400 

 feet in height, where it seemed judicious to call a 

 halt. For some time the horses had begun to show 

 symptoms of distress. The spirited animal which I 

 rode panted heavily in ascending the gentle slope, 

 and at last was forced to stop and gasp for breath 

 every thirty or forty yards. Near at hand a slender 

 stream had cut a channel through some rough rocks, 

 and promised a harvest of moisture-loving Alpine 

 plants ; and opposite to us, on the northern side of 



