THE PERUVIAN LANDSCAPE 



185 



bed, and the tortuous trail now follows a stream in the depths of 

 a profound abyss, now scales the walls of a labyrinthine canyon. 



The most striking elements of scenery are not commonly the 

 most important in physiography. The oldest and most significant 

 surface may be at the top of the country, where it is not seen by 

 the traveler or where it 

 cannot impress him, ex- 

 cept in contrast to fea- 

 tures of greater height 

 or color. The layman 

 frequently seizes on a 

 piece of bad-land erosion 

 or an outcrop of bright- 

 colored sandstone or a 

 cliff of variegated clays or 

 a snow-covered mountain as of most interest. All we can see 

 of a beautiful snow-clad peak is mere entertainment compared 

 with what subdued waste-cloaked hill-slopes may show. We do 

 not wish to imply that everywhere the tops of the Andes are 

 meadows, that there are no great scenic features in the Peruvian 

 mountains, or that they are not worth while. But we do wish to 

 say that the bold features are far less important in the interpre- 

 tation of the landscape. 



Amid all the variable forms of the Peruvian Cordillera certain 

 strongly developed types recur persistently. That their impor- 

 tance and relation may be appreciated we shall at once name them 

 categorically and represent them in the form of a block diagram 

 (Fig. 126). The principal topographic types are as follows: 



Fig. 125 — Mature upper and young lower 

 slopes at the outlet of the Cuzco basin. 



1. An extensive system of high-level, well-graded, mature slopes, below which 

 are: 



2. Deep canyons with steep, and in places, cliffed sides and narrow floors, and 

 above which are: 



3. Lofty residual mountains composed of resistant, highly deformed rock, now 

 sculptured into a maze of serrate ridges and sharp commanding peaks. 



4. Among the forms of high importance, yet causally unrelated to the other 

 closely associated types, are the volcanic cones and plateaus of the western Cordil- 

 lera. 



