THE " DESPOBLADO " OF THE ANDES. 229 



salt and melts them into wide pools of brackish mud. As soon as 

 the sun has absorbed the excessive humidity of the soil, myriads of 

 salt crystals glitter on the surface, and convert the Desert into one 

 immense mirror. 



To the north-west of La Plata extends a desert of very different 

 character the Despoblado, or uninhabited land, a plateau of the 

 Andes, rising some 4200 feet above the level of the sea. This desert 

 is cloven into two portions by a deep valley, bordered with sharp 

 rocks, which affords the only practicable route from Bolivia to Buenos 

 Ayres. Winter, in this sombre world within a world, is a time of 

 horror, when the spirit of Desolation goes to and fro in wrath unchained. 

 Yet even here humanity drags about the fetters of existence. The 

 traveller occasionally alights upon the wretched huts where the 

 unfortunate descendants of the ancient Peruvians linger through life. 

 Their wealth consists in a few llamas. Their occupation, in hunting 

 the alpaca, the guanaco, and the chinchilla ; in filtering the river sands 

 for scanty grains of gold ; in collecting salt, and disposing of it to the 

 inhabitants of the nearest towns. 



" The aspect of the Puna, or Despoblado," says Von Tschudi,* " is 

 singularly monotonous and dreary. The expansive levels are scantily 

 covered with grasses of a yellowish-brown hue, and are never enlivened 

 by fresh-looking verdure. Here and there, at distant intervals, may 

 be seen a few stunted Quenera trees, -f- or large patches of ground 

 covered with the Ratanbia shrub.:}: Both are used by the Indians as 

 fuel, and for roofing their huts. The cold climate and sterile soil are 

 formidable impediments to agriculture. Only one plant is cultivated 

 in these regions with any degree of success. It is the maca, a 

 tuberous root grown like the potato, and, like it, used as an article of 

 food. In many of the Puna districts it constitutes the principal 

 sustenance of the inhabitants. It has an agreeable and somewhat 

 sweetish flavour, and when boiled in milk it tastes like the chest- 

 nut." 



* Dr. I. Von Tschudi, " Travels in Peru " (London, 1847), pp. 305, 306. 

 t Polylepis racemosa. I Krameria triandria. 



