184 PLAIN OF CHANUCAHUA. Chap. XI. 



as liiring an arriero ; and I may add that the travelling 

 by post-mules caused me incessant annoyance and trouble. 

 Whenever they saw a chance the vicious brutes always ran 

 off the road in different directions, bumped their cargo against 

 rocks, and tried to roll, keeping us constantly employed in 

 galloping after them, and greatly increasing the fatigues of 

 the journeys. On several occasions, too, an animal was pro- 

 vided which was so weak or tired that it sank under its 

 cargo before it had gone a league, and obliged me to return 

 to the post-house for another. The adjustment and lashing of 

 the cargos, like everything else, requires considerable knack 

 and skill, which is only acquired by experience ; the Indians 

 were as ignorant in such matters as we were ; and during the 

 first three or four journeys our troubles were increased by 

 the cargos constantly slipping on one side, when the mules 

 always seized the o]3portimity of rushing off the road and 

 kicking fmdously. 



xl few miles north of Juliaca there is a large river, formed 

 by the junction of those of Lampa and Cavanilla, the latter 

 being the same which rises in the lake on the road between 

 Arequij)a and Puno, and flows by the post-house of La Com- 

 puerta. We crossed it in a reed balsa while the mules swam. 

 Beyond the river is the great plain of Chaiiucahua, which was 

 covered with large pools of water, at this season frequented 

 by ducks and sandpipers. Close under the mountains, which 

 bound it on eveiy side, were a few sheep-farms, one of them 

 the property of Don Manuel Costas of Puno, and the sheep 

 roamed at Avill over many leagues of pasture-land. At the 

 northern extremity of the plain the road ascends and de- 

 scends a range of steep hills, and, turning a rocky spur, I 

 came in sight of the town of Lampa. It was just sunset ; 

 the tall church-tower rising over the town, and a stone bridge 

 spanning the river, were clearly defined by the crimson glow 

 in the western sky, while the lofty peaked mountains forming 



