THE CACTUS FORESTS OF CENTRAL BOLIVIA 335 



There now remained but one day's ride to Samaipata, 

 where the trail divides — one branch leading toward Sucre, 

 and the other to Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The farther east- 

 ward one goes the greener the country becomes. Between 

 the five-thousand-foot elevation of Pampa Grande and 

 Samaipata, which is six thousand feet above sea-level, there 

 are two peaks to be crossed, one seven thousand three hun- 

 dred and twenty-five feet, and the other six thousand seven 

 hundred feet high. The top of the former is known as the 

 Alto de Mairana; it is a cold, dreary little plateau where 

 half a dozen wretched Indians live. The town of Mairana 

 is on the lower plain between the two peaks. Patches of 

 low brush replace the cacti and thorny, arid-region type of 

 vegetation; there is a sufficient water-supply; and the 

 whole country seems to present a transition zone of reviving 

 life between the alternately hot and frigid upland deserts 

 and the green slopes stretching toward Santa Cruz. 



