SICKNESS AT GREAT HEIGHTS. 131 



dooth no important harme, onely this, paine and trouble- LlB - m - 

 some distaste while it endures : and not onely the passage 

 of Pariacaca hath this propertie, but also all this ridge of 

 the mountaine, which runnes above five hundred leagues 

 long, and in what place soever you passe, you shall finde 

 strange intemperatures, yet more in some partes then in 

 other, and rather to those which mount from the sea than 

 from the plaines. Besides Pariacaca, I have passed it by 

 Lucanas 1 and Soras ; 2 in another place, by Collahuas, 3 and by 

 Cavanas. 4 Finally, by foure different places, going and 

 comming, and alwaies in this passage I have felt this alter 

 ation, although in no place so strongly as at the first in Paria 

 caca, which hath beene tried by all such as have passed it. 

 And no doubt but the winde is the cause of this intemper- 

 ature and strange alteration, or the aire that raignes there. 

 For the best remedy (and all they finde) is to stoppe their 

 noses, their eares, and their mouthes, as much as may be, 

 and to cover themselves with cloatkes, especially the sto- 

 rnacke, for that the ayre is subtile and piercing, going into 

 the entrailes, and not onely men feele this alteration, but 

 also beasts, that sometimes stay there, so as there is no 

 spurre can make them goe forward. For my part, I holde 

 this place to be one of the highest parts of land in the 

 worlde, for we mount a wonderfull space. And in my opi 

 nion, the mountaine Nevada of Spaine, the Pirenees, and 

 the Alpes of Italie, are as ordiuarie houses in regard of hie 

 Towers. I therefore perswade my selfe, that the element 

 of the aire is there so subtile and delicate, as it is not pro 

 portionable with the breathing of man, which requires a 

 more grosse and temperate aire, and I beleeve it is the 



1 More correctly Rucana. See also Lib. vi, cap. xv ; and G. de la 

 Vega, ii, p. 267. Lucanas is a modern province in the department of 

 Ayacucho. 2 Soras, a district near Lucanas. 



3 Collahua is near Arequipa. See G. de la Vega, i, p. 232. 



4 Cariha. See G. de la Vega, i, p. 80. 



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