WATERLESS WASTES. 31 



of the Sahara can only, by dint of constant industry, preserve 

 their date-palm islands against the waves of the surrounding 

 sand-sea, thus also the inhabitant of the Peruvian coast can 

 only by perpetual irrigation protect his plantations from the 

 encroachments of the neighbouring desert ! But the fruits which 

 he reaps and garners are very different from those which are pro- 

 duced by the African oasis ; for, while none of the plants of the 

 Peruvian sand-coast has ever found its way to the Sahara, the 

 sycamores and tamarinds of the latter are equally unknown on 

 the. eastern shores of the Pacific. Cotton and sugar, maize and 

 batatas, manioc and bananas, here take the place of the date- 

 palm of the Arab, and thrive only so far as the limits of irriga- 

 tion extend. 



In the surrounding wastes, where for miles and miles the 

 traveller meets no traces of vegetation, and finds not one drop 

 of water, the mule performs the part of the African camel ; for, 

 satisfied with a scantier food than the horse, it more easily 

 supports the fatigues of a prolonged journey through the sand, 

 and in Peru is fully entitled to be called the ship of the desert. 

 The horse cannot support hunger and thirst longer than forty- 

 eight hours without becoming so weak as hardly to be able to 

 carry its rider ; and if the latter is imprudent enough to urge it 

 on to a more rapid pace, it falls a victim to his obstinacy, as it 

 will obey the spur until it sinks never to rise again. Not so the 

 mule, which, on feeling itself unable to advance, stands still, and 

 will not move an inch until it has rested for a time ; after which 

 it willingly continues its journey. Yet, in spite of these excel- 

 lent qualities, many mules succumb to the fatigues and priva- 

 tions of the desert ; ' and as in the Sahara the caravan-routes are 

 marked by camel-skeletons, so here long rows of mule-skulls and 

 bones point out the road along the Peruvian sand-coast. Woe 

 to him whom a shipwreck casts on these desolate shores ; for he 

 is almost inevitably doomed to destruction ! 



In general, a healthy man can withstand hunger and thirst 

 .during four or five days, but only in a temperate climate and 

 when the body is at rest ; while in the burning deserts of Peru, 

 the want of water during forty-eight hours, combined with the 

 fatigue of wading through the deep sands, can only end in death. 

 Thirst can, undoubtedly, be supported ten times longer in the 

 moist sea-air than in the thoroughly desiccated atmosphere of a 

 tropical waste. 



