96 THE ANDES OF SOUTHERN PERU 



prefect of Antabamba quickly brought the latter from his distant 

 home. When we arrived we found him drinking with the Gov- 

 ernor. The Subprefect was most courteous. The Governor was 

 good-natured, but his face exhibited a rare combination of cruelty 

 and vice. We were offered quarters in the municipal building for 

 the day or two that we were obliged to stop in the town. The 

 delay enabled us to study the valley to which particular interest 

 attaches because of its situation in the mountain zone between 

 the lofty pastures of the Alpine country and the irrigated fields of 

 the valley farmers. 



Antabamba itself lies on a smooth, high-level shoulder of the 

 youthful Antabamba Valley. The valley floor is narrow and rocky, 

 and affords little cultivable land. On the valley sides are steep 

 descents and narrow benches, chiefly structural in origin, over 

 which there is scattered a growth of scrub, sufficient to screen the 

 deer and the bear, and, more rarely, vagrant bands of vicuna that 

 stray down from their accustomed haunts in the lofty Cordillera. 

 Three thousand feet above the valley floor a broad shoulder be- 

 gins (Fig. 60) and slopes gently up to the bases of the true moun- 

 tains that surmount the broad rolling summit platform. Here are 

 the great pasture lands of the Andes and their semi-nomadic shep- 

 herds. The highest habitation in the world is located here at 

 17,100 feet (5,210 m.), near a secondary pass only a few miles 

 from the main axis of the western chain, and but 300 feet (91 m.) 

 below it. 



The people of Antabamba are both shepherds and farmers. 

 The elevation is 12,000 feet (3,658 m.), too high and exposed for 

 anything more than potatoes. Here is an Indian population pure- 

 blooded, and in other respects, too, but little altered from its 

 original condition. There is almost no communication with the 

 outside world. A deep canyon fronts the town and a lofty moun- 

 tain range forms the background. 



At nightfall, one after another, the Indians came in from the 

 field and doffed their caps as they passed our door. Finally came 

 the "Teniente Gobernador," or Lieutenant Governor. He had 

 only a slight strain of white blood. His bearing was that of a 



