86 ROAD FROM AREQUIPA Chap. V. 



and quite unable to endure fatigue ; the latter a patient, 

 long-suffering people, ca])able of extraordinary endurance, 

 and, as soldiers, in the habit of marching distances wliich 

 appear incredible to those whose experience is confined 

 to the movements of European troops. There is an evident 

 mixture of Spanish blood in the people who inhabit Arequipa 

 and its campiila, while the Indians of the interior are for the 

 most part of pure descent. 



The road over the Cordilleras to Cuzco and Puno leaves 

 Arequipa by the southern suburb, and, after a few miles, 

 ascends a rocky ridge to the more elevated valley of 

 Chihuata or Cangallo (9676 feet above the sea *), at the foot 

 of the southern spiu* of the volcano. A wretched stone hut 

 with a mud floor is here the only shelter for the traveller. 

 At one end a fire of sticks, where an old hag acted as cook, 

 filled the interior with smoke, and at the other each wayfarer, 

 as he arrived, made a shakedown of blankets and ponchos, 

 sipped his chocolate, and, after a short conversation, com- 

 posed himself for the night. The fire gradually smouldered 

 and went out, and the old woman, with a brood of children, 

 made a heap at the further corner. 



At early dawn of the 23rd of March we were all in motion, and 

 our companion of the previous night, a Spaniard with a large 

 tropa of mules laden with aguardiente, was busily preparing 

 for a start. As the sun rose, the dazzling white of the snowy 

 peaks of Pichu-pichu and the volcano, with fleecy clouds 

 above their summits, gave a glorious effect. The rest of the sky 

 was blue, gradually clouding over as the morning advanced ; 

 and the valley was covered with alfalfa-fields of the richest 

 green, with the pretty little village of Cachimarca perched on 

 a rounded hill to the southward. The flowering shrubs by 

 the roadside are the same as in the campina of Arequipa, 



' The elevations were taken with one of Negretti and Zambra's boiling-point 

 thermometers. 



