220 THE ROAD TO BOLIVIA 



Arequipa was selected as the site of the astronomical and meteoro- 

 logical observatories of Harvard University. Observers are engaged 

 in making a map of the heavens of the southern hemisphere, the 

 elevation and the purity of the atmosphere enabling them to reach 

 many stars that are not visible in other localities, while meteorolog- 

 ical records of great scientific usefulness are made b}- automatic in- 

 struments on the top of the volcano Misti. 



Passenger trains leave Arequipa for Lake Titicaca on Thursdays 

 and Sundays at seven o'clock in the morning. Freight trains run 

 every daj\ The track climbs around the base of the volcano 

 Misti. The mountains are bare and seem to be composed of alter- 

 nate la\'ers of rock and baked clay. The latter looks like chalk and 

 cuts like cheese. It was very convenient and useful for grading 

 purposes, and on the mountain sides are great cavities, which were 

 shoveled out for this purpose, whose walls are as regular and as 

 smooth as if they had been done with a carving-knife. At intervals 

 of a few miles are lovely valleys, showing where the water has been 

 gathered and utilized for irrigation, for the soil is rich and produces 

 in a most prolific manner anything that man can plant. Sugar cane 

 and wheat grow side by side, cotton and corn intermingle their foli- 

 age, and potatoes and melons and ordinary vegetables and fruits 

 grow as they do in California. 



We cross the grand divide at Crucero Alto (The High Cross), a 

 collection of adobe huts and a well-built station, upon the front of 

 which is an inscriijtion to inform the traveler that it is the highest 

 point upon the railway and 14,666 feet above the sea. There are 

 mining settlements in Peru at a greater elevation, but for many 

 years this was the highest point in the world at which steam was 

 used for motive power. The highest elevation ever reached by a 

 railwa}' is Galera tunnel, on the Oraya road of Peru, 15,665 feet. 

 The inhabitants are mostly railwa}' men, it being the end of a divi- 

 sion, and the families of the shepherds who watch their flocks upon 

 the pampas that surround it. 



At Crucero Alto water freezes ever}' night of the year, and the 

 thermometer often falls to 6, 8, and 10 degrees below zero. There 

 are no facilities for artificial heat, not even fireplaces, and pieople 

 keep themselves warm by putting on ponchos and other extra wraps. 

 At noonday the sun is intensel}' hot, because of the elevation and 

 rarity of the atmosphere, and blisters the flesh of those who are not 

 accustomed to it. There is a difference of 20 and sometimes 30 



