THE CHUNU. 21 



Their climate is hardly less bleak and winterly than that 

 of the high snow-ridges which bound them on either side. Cold 

 winds sweep almost constantly over their surface, and during 

 four months of the year they are daily visited by fearful storms. 

 The suddenly darkened sky discharges, under terrific thunder 

 and lightning, enormous masses of snow, until the sun breaks 

 forth again. But soon the clouds obscure its brilliancy ; and 

 til us winter and summer, here reign alternately, — not, as in 

 our temperate climes, during several months, but within the 

 short space of a single day. In a few hours the change of 

 temperature often amounts to forty or forty-five degrees, and 

 the sudden fall of the thermometer is rendered still more 

 disagreeable to the traveller by biting winds, which so violently 

 irritate the skin of the hands and face, that it springs open 

 and bleeds from every fissure. An intolerable burning and 

 swelling accompany these wounds, so as to prevent the use of 

 the hands for several days. On the lips it is also very dis- 

 agreeable, as the pain increases by eating and speaking ; and 

 an incautious laugh produces deep rents, which bleed for a 

 long time and heal with difficulty. 



This evil, which is called Ghunu by the Peruvian Indians, is 

 also very painful on the eyelids ; but it becomes absolutely in- 

 supportable by the addition of the Surumpe, sl very acute and 

 violent inflammation of the eyes, caused by the sim's reflection 

 from the snow. In consequence of the rarefied air and the 

 biting winds, the visual organs are constantly in a state of irrita- 

 tion, which renders them far more sensitive to any strong light 

 than would be the case in a more congenial atmosphere. The 

 rapid change from a clouded sky to the brilliancy of a sunny 

 snow-field, causes a painful stinging and burning, which in- 

 creases from minute to minute to such a degree, that even the 

 stoical Indian, when afflicted with this evil, will sit down on 

 the road-side and utter cries of anguish and despair. Chronical 

 ophthalmia, suppuration of the eyelids, and total blindness, are 

 the frequent consequences of an intense surumpe, against which 

 the traveller over the high lands carefully guards himself by 

 green spectacles or a dark veil. 



A third plague of the wanderer in the Puna is the Veta, 

 which is occasioned by the great rarefaction of the air. Its 

 first symptoms, which generally appear at an elevation of 1 2,000 



