426 PLATEAU OP CAXAMARCA. 



We found among the thin blades of Ichhu-grass (perhaps our Stipa 

 eriostachya), .a beautiful Calceolaria (C. sibthorpioides), which we 

 should not have expected at such an elevation. 



Not far from the town of Micuipampa, in a high plain called 

 Llanos or Pampa de Navar, there have been found throughout an 

 area of above an English geographical square mile, immediately 

 under the turf, and as it were intertwined with the roots of the 

 alpine grasses, enormous masses of rich red silver ore and threads of 

 pure silver (in remolinos, clavos, and vetas manteadas). Another 

 elevated plain west of the Purgatorio, near the Quebrada de Chiquera, 

 is called "Choropampa" or the "Field of Shells" (chiiru, in the 

 Quichua language, signifies shells, and particularly small eatable 

 kinds, hostion, mexillon). The name refers to fossils which belong 

 to the cretaceous group, and which are found there in such abundance 

 that they early attracted the attention of the natives. This is the 

 place where there was obtained near the surface a mass of pure gold 

 spun round with threads of silver in the richest manner. Such an 

 occurrence shows how independent many of the ores thrown up from 

 the interior of the earth into fissures or veins, are of the nature of 

 the adjacent rock and of the relative age of the formations broken 

 through. The rock of the Cerro de Grualgayoc and of Fuentestiana 

 has a great deal of water, but in the Purgatorio absolute dryness 

 prevails. I found to my astonishment that, notwithstanding the 

 height of the strata above the level of the sea, the temperature of 

 the. last-named mine was 15. 8 Keaumur (67. 4 Fahr.); while in 

 the neighboring Mina de Guadalupe, the water in the mine showed 

 about 9 Keaumur (52. 2 Fahr.). As in the open air the thermo- 

 meter only rises to about 4 Keaumur (41 Fahr.), the miners, 

 whose toil is severe, and who are .almost without clothing, call the 

 subterranean heat in the Purgatorio stifling. 



The narrow path from Micuipampa to the ancient city of the 

 Incas, Caxamarca, is difficult even for mules. The name of the 

 town was originally Cassamarca or Kazamarca, i. e. the Frost town 

 (marca, as signifying a place or locality, belongs to the northern 

 Chinchaysuyo or Chinchaysuyu dialect, while the word in the general 

 Quichua language signifies the stories of houses, and also defences 

 or forts). Our way lay for five or six hours over a succession of 



