74 DESEKT OF AREQUIPA. " Chap. V. 



which bounded the view, the whiteness of their snowy 

 peaks became quite dazzling. Immediately in front was 

 the perfect cone of the volcano of Arequipa; to the right 

 the glorious peaks of Charcani and Chuquibamba ; to the 

 left the remarkable range of Pichupichu. It is probable 

 that in no part of the world is so sublime a view of mountain 

 peaks to be found as is presented at early dawn from tliis 

 desert. But its sublimity is similar to that which is witnessed 

 in a sunrise at sea ; it fills the mind with an idea of vastness 

 and grandeur, while it wants all the details which usually 

 accompany and form no small part of the enjoyment derived 

 from ordinary mountain scenery. Yet here, while gazing on 

 those magnificent peaks, with no middle distance and no 

 foreground, save the flat sea-like wilderness, we felt that any 

 addition would have marred the simple glories of this unpa- 

 ralleled view. The desert is between 4000 and 5000 feet 

 above the sea, and the cordillera peaks are, some more, some 

 a little less, than 20,000 feet in height ; so that, within a 

 distance of under forty miles, we beheld mountains rising 

 upwards of 16,000 feet from the point on which we stood : 

 of no other mountains in the world could such a view be 

 obtained. In this land of the Incas Natm-e has done her 

 work on a truly gigantic scale. 



The desert, fi"om Guerreros to the entrance to the gorge 

 leading through the rocky hills which divide it from the 

 plain of Arequipa, is upwards of forty miles across, while its 

 length from the transverse valley of Tambo to that of Yitor 

 must be about sixty. Dm^ing the greater part of the day we 

 were threading our way through arid mountain gorges, and 

 up and down zigzag rocky paths strewn with the bones and 

 carcasses of mules, under a scorching sun. A little pale 

 pm-ple Nemophila, a small Crucifer, and the weird Cacti, 

 the appropriate inhabitants of the desert, are the only plants 

 of this cheerless region ; and a few obscene gaUinazos, float- 



