116 THE ANDES OF SOUTHERN PERU 



jection of old and hard quartzitic rock, and again above Camana, 

 where the stream cuts straight across the granite axis of the Coast 

 Eange. Elsewhere the rock is either a softer sandstone or still 

 unindurated sands and gravels, as at the top of the desert series 

 of strata that are exposed on the valley wall. The changing width 

 of the valley is thus a reflection of the changing hardness of the 

 rock. 



There is a wide range of products between Chuquibamba at 

 10,000 feet (3,050 m.) at the head of the valley and Camana near 

 the valley mouth. At the higher levels fruit will not grow — only 

 alfalfa, potatoes, and barley. A thousand feet below Chuqui- 

 bamba fruit trees appear. Then follows a barren stretch where 

 there are mud flows and where the river is intrenched. Below 

 this there is a wonderful change in climate and products. The 

 elevation falls off 4,000 feet and the first cultivated patches 

 below the middle unfavorable section are covered with grape 

 vines. Here at 3,000 feet (900 m.) elevation above the sea begin 

 the famous vineyards of the Majes Valley, which support a wine 

 industry that dates back to the sixteenth century. Some of the 

 huge buried earthenware jars for curing the wine at Hacienda 

 Cantas were made in the reign of Philip II. 



The people of Aplao and Camana are among the most hospita- 

 ble and energetic in Peru, as if these qualities were but the re- 

 flection of the bounty of nature. Nowhere could I see evidences 

 of crowding or of the degeneracy or poverty that is so often as- 

 sociated with desert people. Water is always plentiful; some- 

 times indeed too plentiful, for floods and changes in the bed of 

 the river are responsible for the loss of a good deal of land. 

 This abundance of water means that both the small and the large 

 landowners receive enough. There are none of the troublesome 

 official regulations, as in the poorer valleys with their inevitable 

 favoritism or downright graft. Yet even here the valley is not 

 fully occupied; at many places more land could be put under 

 cultivation. The Belaunde brothers at Cantas have illustrated 

 this in their new cotton plantation, where clearings and new canals 

 have turned into cultivated fields tracts long covered with brush. 



