Haunts of the Condor in Peru. 281 



huanacos, which; during the spring* months of these regions, 

 called by the natives "El Tiempo de Flores," roam about in 

 search of the spare pasture occasionally found on the summits 

 of the mountains of the coast. This peculiarly-placed vegeta- 

 tion — constituting the flower spots of the desert — consists of 

 some twenty to thirty species of plants, many of them small 

 bulbs producing white and blue flowers. There is also much of 

 the oxalis, and some giantic cacti, thirty or forty feet high and 

 ten or fifteen in girth, with yellow blossoms. 



The morning breeze had died away, and the scorching sun 

 was in its zenith, when we commenced the ascent of the stee]3 

 ravine of Guantaca, deeply strewed with angular stones, formed 

 by the breaking away of its rocky walls, which are composed on 

 one side of granite and on the other porphyry. On the gran- 

 itic side of this sombre and melancholy-looking spot, grew here 

 and there the gigantic cactus trees of the kind just mentioned ; 

 and at their bases lay small heaps of dead bulimi, whitened by 

 exposure, and on the leaves others in a live state, with shells 

 of a brown hue ; there were three or four species of them. 

 There were no cacti on the porphyritic rocks ; and the greater 

 fertility of the granite arises from its containing so much 

 soluble alcali as to be more easily decomposed by the dews 

 at night and the intense heat of the sun during the day, and 

 thus affording a comparatively nutritious material for the plants 

 — soil it can scarcely be called. 



The stillness of the scene was most impressive ; all that we 

 heard was our tramp over the track, and now and then the 

 slight chirrup of a little slate-coloured bird, the " come sebo," 

 or fat- eater. 



Instead of continuing our course up the ravine to its pass, 

 and then descending by the ordinary track to Iquique, we bore 

 off to the right, picking our way over and through masses of 

 granitic rock for a considerable time, not with the intention of 

 making a " short cut," but to explore the " Lomas/' or sum- 

 mits of the mountains of the coast. This we did to our heart's 

 content, having traversed a district probably never before 

 visited by a white man. 



From some of the passes and summits we had a glorious 

 view of the wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean; from our 

 elevation and proximity we appeared to be looking into it, not 

 along it; and the horizon being on a level with the eye, ap- 

 peared like a line almost within our grasp. A little to our left 

 stood Iquique and its guano island, which we could see as if it 

 were in plan, and two small guano vessels in the offing were at 

 such an angle that we thought we could perceive the very 

 decks. 



After fasting our eyes upon so peculiar a sight, we medi- 



