PLATEAU OF CAXAMARCA. 427 



Paramos, where we were exposed almost incessantly to the fury of 

 the wind and to the sharp-edged hail so peculiar to the ridges of the 

 Andes. The height of the route above the level of the sea is gene- 

 rally between nine and ten thousand feet (about 9600 and 10,660 

 Eng.). It afforded me, however, the opportunity of making a mag- 

 netic observation of general interest; i. e. the determination of the 

 point where the North Inclination of the Needle passes into South 

 Inclination, or where the traveller's route- crosses the Magnetic 

 Equator. ( M ) 



On reaching at length the last of these mountain wildernesses, 

 the Paramo de Yanaguanga, the traveller looks down with increased 

 pleasure on the fertile valley of Caxamarca. It affords a charming 

 prospect \ a small river winds through the elevated plain, which is 

 of an oval form and about six or seven German geographical square 

 miles in extent (96 or 112 English geographical square miles). 

 The plain resembles that of Bogota : both are probably the bottoms 

 of ancient lakes ; but at Caxamarca there is wanting the myth of the 

 wonder-working Botschica or Idacanzas, the high-priest of Iraca, 

 who opened for the waters a passage through the rock of Tequen- 

 darna. Caxamarca is situated 600 (640 Eng.) feet higher than 

 Santa Fe de Bogota, therefore almost as high as the city of Quito; 

 but being sheltered by surrounding mountains it enjoys a far milder 

 and more agreeable climate. The soil is extremely fertile, and the 

 plain full of cultivated fields and gardens traversed by avenues of 

 Willows, large flowered red, white, and yellow varieties of Datura, 

 Mimosas, and the beautiful Quinuar-trees (our Polylepsis villosa, 

 a Rosacea allied to Alchemilla and Sanguisorba). Wheat yields 

 on an average, in the Pampa de Caxamarca, fifteen to twentyfold, 

 but the hopes of a plentiful harvest are sometimes disappointed by 

 night frosts, occasioned by the great radiation of heat towards the 

 unclouded sky through the dry and rarefied mountain air: the frosts 

 are not felt in the roofed houses. 



In the northern part of the plain, small porphyritic domes break 

 through the widely extended sandstone strata, and probably once 

 formed islands in the ancient lake before its waters had flowed off. 

 On the summit of one of these domes, the Cerro de Santa Polonia, 

 we enjoyed a pleasing prospect. The ancient residence of Atuhu- 



