212 PHOVINCE OF CARAVAYA. Chap. XIl. 



with a Blieer fall of forty feet.^ The gold-seekers of the 

 Challuma have penetrated further into the forests, and nearer 

 to the main stream of the Purns, than any other explorers ; 

 and their discovery of the Challuma, and of the auriferous 

 hills near its banks, has added something to our geographical 

 knowledge of this region. 



The remaining villages on the eastern slopes of the Cara- 

 vayan Andes are Patambuco, Sandia, Cuyo-cuyo, Quiaca, 

 Sina, and the farm of Saqui, on the frontier of Bolivia. The 

 river of Sandia has one of its sources near the pass twenty 

 miles north-east of Crucero, whence it flows past Sandia, and 

 for many leagues down a narrow gorge, with magnificent 

 mountains rising up abruptly on either side. At a distance 

 of twenty miles below Sandia, in a part of the ravine called 

 Ypara, the coca and coffee plantations commence, at a height 

 of 5000 feet above the sea. Beyond Ypara cultivation ceases, 

 and the river, now increased to double its former size by 

 its junction with the Huari-huari, flows for many leagues 

 between mountains covered from their summits with a 

 dense tropical forest. This region is known as San Juan del 

 Oro, once famous for its gold-washings ; and here the royal 

 town of the same name stood, founded by the fugitive Al- 

 magristas, and afterwards tenanted by the Senores Mulattos, 

 but long since destroyed and abandoned. The forests contain 

 chinchona- trees of valuable species, and, until the last four- 

 teen years, they were frequented by bark-collectors. 



While flowing through the forests of San Juan del Oro the 

 river takes a turn to the westward, and, at a distance of 

 sixty miles from Sandia, enters the Hatim-yunca, or Valle 

 Grande, where the people of Sandia have very extensive 



^ Lijera descripcioii que liace Juan 

 Buatamante, de su vinje a Carahaya, y 

 del estado actual de sus lavaderos y 

 minerales. Arequipa, 1850. Busta- 

 mante says that, at the time of liis 



\'isit, tliere ■were a hundred people at 

 the lavaderos of tlie Challuma, and 

 that the Indians received 4 rials a 

 day. 



