72 PORTILLO PASS. 



The only sensation I experienced was a slight tight- 

 ness across the head and chest, like that felt on 

 leaving a warm room and running quickly in frosty 

 weather. There was some imagination even in 

 this ; for upon finding fossil shells on the highest 

 ridge, I entirely forgot the puna in my delight. 

 Certainly the exertion of walking was extremely 

 gi-eat, and the respiration became deep and labo- 

 rious : I am told that in Potosi (about 13,000 feet 

 above the sea) strangers do not become thoroughly 

 accustomed to the atmosphere for an entire year. 

 The inhabitants all recommend onions for the puna; 

 as this vegetable has sometimes been given in Eu- 

 rope for pectoral complaints, it may possibly be of 

 real service : for my part, I found nothing so good 

 as the fossil shells ! 



When about half way up we met a large party 

 with seventy loaded inules. It was interesting to 

 hear the wild cries of the muleteers, and to watch 

 the long descending string of the animals ; they 

 appeared so diminutive, there being nothing but 

 the bleak mountains with which they could be com- 

 pared. When near the summit, the wind, as gen- 

 erally happens, was impetuous and extremely cold. 

 On each side of the ridge we had to pass over broad 

 bands of perpetual snow, which were now soon to 

 be covered by a fresh layer. When we reached 

 the crest and looked backwards, a glorious view 

 was presented. The atmosphere resplendently 

 clear ; the sky an intense blue ; the profound val- 

 leys ; the wild, broken forms ; the heaps of ruins, 

 piled vip during the lapse of ages ; the bright-col- 

 oured rocks, contrasted with the quiet mountains 

 of snow — all these together produced a scene no 

 one could have imagined. Neither plant nor bird, 

 excepting a few condors wheeling around the high- 

 er pinnacles, distracted my attention from the in- 



