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The National Geographic Magazine 



miles from the mouth of the Madeira. 

 Above the falls steamships may again 

 be used ; but the danger and loss in 

 passing the rapids are so great that, 

 until this difficulty is overcome, another 

 route is very desirable. The Pacific is 

 comparatively near, but a journey must 

 be made through dense forests and 

 wild gorges to the crest of the eastern 

 Andes and down to the Titicaca Pla- 

 teau, where railway transportation to 

 the Pacific is ready. Until recently no 

 direct route had been opened up. 



Peruvian Station of Harvard College Ob- 

 servatory, near Arequipa 



Altitude, 8,000 feet. In the background rises 

 the nearly extinct volcano, El Misti, 19,000 

 feet high. On its summit a meteorological sta- 

 tion was maintained for eight years. 



At the present time there are several 

 ways of reaching the Madre de Dios 

 and its tributaries, but the most direct 

 and comfortable route is that which I 

 traversed in 1903 before its completion. 

 Since that time many improvements in 

 the road have been made. 



From New York one may reach the 

 Peruvian port of Mollendo in about 

 three weeks. At the present time it is 

 necessary to cross the Isthmus of 

 Panama by rail, but when the canal is 

 completed through steamships from 

 Atlantic cities will doubtless call at all 

 important South American Pacific ports. 

 From Mollendo a railway journey of 

 seven or eight hours takes one across 

 the desert to Arequipa, the chief city 

 of southern Peru. Arequipa lies on the 

 western slope of the Andes, at an ele- 

 vation of 7,500 feet. This elevation 

 within the tropics furnishes an almost 

 ideal climate. The whole region west 

 of the Andes in Peru is, however, 

 desert and capable of cultivation only 

 by irrigation. Arequipa owes its ex- 

 istence to the small River Chile, whose 

 waters are exhausted in irrigating the 

 valley which surrounds the city. 



A railway leads from Arequipa to 

 the Titicaca Plateau, which lies be- 

 tween the eastern and western Andes. 

 On the lofty and desolate Puna it 

 reaches an altitude of 14,660 feet before 

 it descends to the plateau. Lake Titi- 

 caca has an elevation of about 12,500 

 feet. This great region between the 

 different ranges of the Andes was the 

 home of the various Indian races that 

 under the domination of the Incas made 

 up the semi-civilized population at the 

 time of the Spanish conquest. Their 

 descendants, for the most part full- 

 blooded Indians, still dwell on the same 

 plateaus and lofty valleys, but in a 

 low social condition. They have lost 

 rather than gained by the coming of a 

 higher civilization. 



CROSSING THE -ANDES 



At Tiripata, on this plateau, it is 

 necessary to leave the railway and 

 cross the eastern Cordillera. Through 

 American enterprise, in connection with 

 an enlightened policy on the part of the 

 Peruvian government, a wagon road 

 has been constructed for a portion of 

 the route across the plateau, and will 



