PERU. 
275 
going on, they met a person who informed them that the only persons 
now there were Indians. As their only inducement to return was 
the agreeable company they had left, they acceded to their guides' 
views, and taking another direction, arrived at Casa Cancha in the 
afternoon. At night they had an arrival of some Chilian cavalry, 
and there was great alarm felt among the occupants of the huts and 
the guides, for fear of losing their horses, a disaster which they said 
often occurred when such visiters came. The commander proved to 
be a gentlemanly person, and rendered our party much assistance. 
This party had left Pasco, the chief m'ning place of Lower Peru, in 
the morning, and represented it as a place of considerable trade, con- 
taining many foreign residents, including English, American, French, 
and German. He stated that the Quichua language was spoken 
there, and that the Spanish was not commonly understood. 
;?]L&.S? ©5f TA,B<0 
The towm of Pasco is at an elevation of thirteen thousand feet, 
and situated in the plain of San Juan, at the head of two ravines or 
gullies, one called Rumiallana, leading to the northward, and the 
other Huanuco, to the eastward, where the two great veins of Col- 
quijirca and Pariajirca unite. These are supposed to extend some 
seventy miles in length, and the town of Pasco is situated at their 
junction, a plot of which, taken from the survey of Mr. Trevithick, is 
