THE ROAD TO BOLIVIA 



213 



dangerous when you see them in the water, l)ut it is ini})ossible to 

 sink them. 



When you leave the Guayas River to go southward 3'ou strike the 

 " Zona Seca," the desert coast, as soon as 3'Ou pass the boundary of 

 Peru. The steamer follows the shore as closely as safety will allow. 

 The surf has pounded it until the soft places have yielded and its pres- 

 ent outlines resemble the wind-carved cliffs on the American desert, 

 and scattered along are many islands gray with guano, dropped by 

 the millions of water birds that make their home along the way-worn 

 and forbidding shore. There are a few indifferent harbors, but most 

 of the towns lie up- 

 on the unprotected 

 beach, and commu- 

 nication between 

 the steamer and the 

 shore is carried on 

 in large launches, 

 made so buoyant 

 that theja-ide safely 

 through the surf. 



Like the arid 

 lands of Arizona 

 and southern Cali- 

 fornia, the desert 

 coast of Peru is rich 

 in vegetable life 

 wherever it can be 

 moistened. About 

 once in a generation 

 a shower escapes 



from the mountains, and the hitherto lifeless eartli is immediately 

 illuminated with fruits and flowers whose germs have lain dormant 

 from remote cycles. In 1892 there fell a series of un})recedented 

 rains. The desert was alive with plants and blossoms where nothing 

 but lifeless sand had been l)efore, and where the seeds came from 

 is a question no one has ever been able to answer. 



The steamer stops at every town for an hour or two, long riiougii 

 to take on and discharge cargo, and the passengers can go ashore and 

 enjoy diversions from the voyage, wliich are always interesting. We 

 saw fun(!rals and weddings and l)usy markets and many (jueer things 

 unique to tiiis locality. 



