THE PERUVIAN SA^^D-COAST. 83 



showers of rain ; and, remarkably enough, the limits between 

 both can be determined with almost mathematical precision, as 

 there are plantations, one half of whose surface is invariably 

 moistened by garuas and the other by rain. 



When the mists appear, the Lomas, or chains of hills which 

 bound the sand-coast towards the east, begin to assume a new 

 character ; and, as if by magic, a garden is seen where but a few 

 days before a desert extended its dreary nakedness. Soon also, 

 animal life begins to animate the scene, as the Lomeros drive 

 their cattle and horses to these newly-formed pasture-grounds, 

 where for several months they find an abundance of juicy food, 

 but no water. This, however, they do not require, as they 

 always leave the Lomas in the best condition. 



In some of the northern coast-districts, situated near the 

 equatorial line, where the garuas seldom appear, the fertility of 

 the land depends wholly upon the streams which issue from 

 the mountains. The dew, which along the coasts of central and 

 south Peru hardly moistens the soil to the depth of half an inch, 

 is there so completely wanting, that a piece of paper exposed 

 to the air during the night shows no sign of moisture in the 

 morning ; and so thoroughly does the dryness of the soil pre- 

 vent putrefaction, that after 300 years the mummified corpses 

 are still found unaltered, which the ancient Peruvians buried in 

 a sitting posture. 



Thus the aridity of the Sahara repeats itself in these American 

 deserts, and is in some measure owing to the same cause, though 

 their geographical position to the west of the Andes, whose 

 eastern slopes absorb all the moisture of the prevailing trade- 

 winds, chiefly accounts for their nakedness. Rain is wanting, 

 as there is no vegetation of any great extent to condense the 

 passing vapours ; and, on the other hand, the want of moisture 

 prevents plants from rooting on the unstable soil. 



A glance at the animal world of the Peruvian coast shows us 

 the same poverty of species as in the great African desert. A 

 fox (Ganis Azarce) seems here to play the part of the hyaena 

 and the jackal ; and is found both in the cotton-plantations 

 along the streams, and in the Lomas, where he is destructive to 

 the young lambs. The large American felidse, the puma, and 

 the jaguar, seldom appear on the coast, where they attain a 

 more considerable size than in the mountains. The cowardly 



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