3JO A CURE FOR "PUNA." [ciiAr. xv. 



here have puna" ; others that "where there is snow then 

 is puna " ; — and this no doubt is true. The onl}'' sensation 

 I experienced was a slight tightness 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 great, and the respira- 

 tion became deep and laborious. 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 Europe 

 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 mules. 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 compared. When near the summit, the wind, as 

 generally 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 back- 

 wards, a glorious view was presented. The atmosphere 

 resplendently clear ; the sky an intense blue : the profound 

 valleys ; the wild broken forms ; the heaps of ruins, piled 

 up during the lapse of ages ; the bright-coloured 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 higher pinnacles, distracted my attention from 

 the Inanimate mass. I felt glad that I was alone : it was 

 like watching a thunderstorm, or hearing in full orchestra 

 a chorus of the Messiah. 



On several patches of the snow I found the Protococcus 

 nivalisy or red snow, so well known from the accounts of 

 Arctic navigators. My attention was called to It by ob- 

 serving footsteps of tile mules stained a pale red, as if 

 their hoofs had been slightly bloody. I at first thought 

 that it was owing to dust blown from the surrounding 

 mountains of red porphyry ; for from the magnifying 



