54 THE ANDES OF SOUTHERN PERU 



grazing grounds of the fleet vicuna. They occur in hundreds, and 

 so remote and little disturbed are they that near the main pass 

 one may count them by the score. As we rode by, many of them 

 only stared at us without taking the trouble to get beyond rifle 

 shot. It is not difficult to believe that the Indians easily shoot 

 great numbers in remote valleys that have not been hunted for 

 years. 



The extreme conditions of life existing on these lofty plateaus 

 are well shown by the readiness with which even the hardy shep- 

 herds avail themselves of shelter. Wherever deep valleys bring a 

 milder climate within reach of the pastures the latter are unpopu- 

 lated for miles on either side. The sixty-mile stretch between 

 Chuquibamba and Salamanca is without even a single hut, though 

 there are pastures superior to the ones occupied by those loftiest 

 huts of all. Likewise there are no permanent homes between Sala- 

 manca and Cotahuasi, though the shepherds migrate across the 

 belt in the milder season of rain. Eastward and northward to- 

 ward the crest of the Maritime Cordillera there are no huts 

 within a day's journey of the Cotahuasi canyon. Then there is a 

 group of a dozen just under the crest of the secondary range that 

 parallels the main chain of volcanoes. Thence northward there 

 are a number of scattered huts between 15,500 and 16,500 feet 

 (4,700 and 5,000 m.), until we reach the highest habitations of all 

 at 17,100 feet (5,210 m.). 



The unpopulated belts of lava plateau bordering the entrenched 

 valleys are, however, as distinctly "sustenance" spaces, to use 

 Penck's term, as the irrigated and fertile alluvial fans in the bot- 

 tom of the valley. This is well shown when the rains come and 

 flocks of llamas and sheep are driven forth from the valleys to the 

 best pastures. It is equally well shown by the distribution of the 

 shepherds ' homes. These are not down on the warm canyon floor, 

 separated by a half -day's journey from the grazing. They are in 

 the intrenched tributary valleys of Figure 26 or just within the 

 rim of the canyon. It is not shelter from the cold but from the 

 wind that chiefly determines their location. They are also kept 

 near the rim of the canyon by the pressure of the farming popu- 



