TOPOGEAPHY OF PEEU. 337 



and north. Here it rushes down a series of wild gorges through a desolate region 

 visited only by a few Campa savages. The towns in the tributary valley, 

 HiiancaveUea, Huanta and Ayaciicho, -àW. stand above the gorges beyond the limits 

 of Peru proper. Between Ayacucho and Huancavelica the plateau of greyish 

 rocks has been weathered into thousands of monoliths affecting the form of 

 obelisks, some as high as 150 or 160 feet, and all disposed like the colossal tomb- 

 stones of a vast graveyard. Some of the sandstone blocks have been hollowed 

 out to serve as dwellings. 



In the district of Huancavelica (Huancavilca) a Portuguese miner discovered 

 some quicksilver-beds in 1567, and five years later the town was founded under 

 the Spanish name of Villitrica de Oropesa, which, however, yielded to that of 

 Huancavelica, perpetuating the memory of the former Huanca Indians. The new 

 settlement increased rapidly, and for two centuries it held a foremost position 

 amongst the cities of Peru. Its mines yielded rrearly all the quicksilver used in 

 the New World in the preparation of gold and silver amalgams. But after yield- 

 ing nearly £20,000,000 of metal the mines became impoverished, and at present 

 the annual output averages no more than about 50 tons. Copious thermal 

 springs with petrifying properties occur near the town. Huanta also, which was 

 formerly rich in silver ores, has lost nearly all its mining resources. 



Ayacucho — Sicuani. 



Ayacucho, " Gorge of the Dead," formerly Huamangn, "Falcon Rock," owes 

 much of its importance to its rank as administrative centre of the department, 

 and as the chief stage on the highway between Lima and Cuzco. Several 

 decisive battles were fought round about this strategic position ; in the south the 

 village of Cimpas recalls the defeat of Almagro the younger in 1542, and in 

 the north Quinua should have given its name to the so-called battle of Ayacucho, 

 gained by the republicans over the Spanish troops in 1824. The college of 

 Ayacucho ranks as a university. 



Below its confluence with the ]\Iantaro the Apurimac basin has scarcelj^ any 

 centres of population except Cangallo on the Calcamayo affluent, and Ahancay on 

 the mainstream, near the point where the Lima-Cuzco route crosses the river by 

 the highest rope-bridge in Peru. 



>S«Vw«n/, present terminus of the Arequipa railway (11,590 feet), occupies a 

 delightful position on the banks of the upper Huilcamayo (Yilcanota), which 

 here flows at a moderate incline through one of the " paradises of Peru." Near 

 Urcos, lower down, is shown the lagoon where, according to a local legend, was 

 formerly suspended the gold chain enclosing the great square of Cuzco. But 

 the city itself — usually written with the article, "El Cuzco," that is, "The Naval " — 

 was built, not on the river, but on a bolson, a long narrow plain covered with 

 barley and lucerne fields, and dominated north-westwards by a rocky eminence 

 crowned with ruins. It stands at a height of 11,385 feet, in a climate cold enough 

 for snow to fall occasionally on the city. 

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