DOWN THE COAST OF PERU 267 



founded Lima in 1535; he died June 26, 1541, and was 

 buried under the cathedral; in 1891 the bones were ex- 

 humed and placed in their present resting-place. If one 

 may believe the statements of historians, a monument built 

 of the skeletons of his helpless victims would be a far more 

 suitable memorial to the bloodthirsty outlaw than the 

 place of worship which his remains of necessity must defile. 



We had heard a great deal about the difficulty of land- 

 ing at Mollendo. At times the rollers from the south are 

 so immense that ships do not attempt an anchorage, but 

 continue the voyage down to Arica. We were relieved to 

 find the sea perfectly smooth upon our arrival. The town 

 differed from Paita and Salavery only in that it was some- 

 what larger. We found it possible to purchase through 

 tickets to La Paz, and noon saw us on our way. The rail- 

 road started up the barren slope almost immediately; occa- 

 sionally the incline was very gentle — so gentle, in fact, 

 that the country lay like a great brown desert on each side 

 of the track. These stretches were covered with crescent- 

 shaped sand-dunes, some of them fifty feet high and several 

 hundred feet from tip to tip. They creep slowly forward 

 as the wind blows the sand up their rear slope to the crest, 

 when it topples over into the centre of the half-moon. 



At times the grade was very steep. The deep blue Pa- 

 cific was visible several hours, sometimes on our right and 

 then on our left, as the train wound up the mountainside, 

 but always receding until it resembled a vast mist-en- 

 shrouded amethyst losing itself in the distance. 



Alkali-dust entered the coaches in clouds and threatened 

 to suffocate the passengers, but the impressiveness of the 

 scenery more than compensated them for this annoyance. 



Not far from Arequipa a deep gorge appeared with a 

 stream threading its way through the bottom. Its banks 

 were covered with trees and green vegetation — a veritable 

 oasis amid the desert that hemmed it in on both sides. 

 The Indians who now came to the car-windows when the 

 train stopped to get up steam brought grapes, figs, oranges, 



