THE GEOGRAPHIC BASIS OF HUMAN CHARACTER 103 



white man and live in the most remote corners of the mountains. 

 I have now and again come upon the most isolated huts, invisible 

 from the valley trails. They were thatched with grass ; the walls 

 were of stone; the rafters though light must have required pro- 

 digious toil, for all timber stops at 12,000 feet on the mountain 

 borders. The shy fugitive who perches his hut near the lip of a 

 hanging valley far above the trail may look down himself unseen 

 as an eagle from its nest. When the owner leaves on a journey, 

 or to take his flock to new pastures, he buries his pottery or hides 

 it in almost inaccessible caves. He locks the door or bars it, thank- 

 ful if the spoiler spares rafters and thatch. 



At length we reached Cotahuasi, a town sprawled out on a ter- 

 race just above the floor of a deep canyon (Fig. 29). Its flower gar- 

 dens and pastures are watered by a multitude of branching canals 

 lined with low willows. Its bright fields stretch up the lower 

 slopes and alluvial fans of the canyon to the limits of irrigation 

 where the desert begins. The fame of this charming oasis is wide- 

 spread. The people of Antabamba and Lambrama and even the 

 officials of Abancay spoke of Cotahuasi as practically the end of 

 our journey. Fruits ripen and flowers blossom every month 

 of the year. Where we first reached the canyon floor near 

 Huaynacotas, elevation 11,500 feet (3,500 m.), there seemed to be' 

 acres of rose bushes. Only the day before at an elevation of 

 16,800 feet (5,120 m.) we had broken thick ice out of a mountain 

 spring in order to get water ; now we were wading a shallow river, 

 and grateful for the shade along its banks. Thus we came to the 

 town prepared to find the people far above their plateau neigh- 

 bors in character. Yet, in spite of friendly priests and officials 

 and courteous shopkeepers, there was a spirit strangely out of 

 harmony with the pleasant landscape. 



Inquiries showed that even here, where it seemed that only 

 sylvan peace should reign, there had recently been let loose the 

 spirit of barbarism. We shall turn to some of its manifestations 

 and look at the reasons therefor. 



In the revolution of 1911 a mob of drunken, riotous citizens 

 gathered to storm the Cotahuasi barracks and the jail. A full- 



